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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


CONSTRUCTIVE   BIBLE    STUDIES 


EDITED    BY 

ERNEST  D.   BURTON 


SOCIAL  DUTIES 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

Bgents 
THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH 


SOCIAL  DUTIES 

From  the  Christian  Point  of  View 


A  TEXTBOOK  FOR  THE  STUDY  OF 
SOCIAL  PROBLEMS 

By 
Charles  Richmond  Henderson 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Copyright  igog  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  March  igog 
Second  Impression  December  igog 
'    Third  Impression  May  IQ13 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


n  Oh s 


PREFACE 

There  was  a  memorable  saying  of  the  last  generation: 
Property  has  its  duties  as  well  as  its  rights.  But  our  view 
of  property  is  this :  The  rights  of  property  mean  a  con- 
centration of  social  duties.  Our  socialism  rests  in  duty, 
not  in  right.  Duty  is  always  plain ;  right  is  a  verbal 
mystification.  A  man  can  always  and  everywhere  do  his 
duty.  He  seldom  can  get  his  supposed  rights  without 
trampling  on  the  rights  of  others.  Men  wrangle  inces- 
santly as  to  rights.  They  easily  agree  as  to  duties.  The 
performance  of  duty  is  always  ennobling,  a  moral,  a 
religious  act.  The  struggle  for  rights  calls  out  all  the 
passions  of  self  and  of  combat.^ 

These  words  of  a  high-minded  writer  of  recent 
times  may  serve  as  an  introduction  to  the  present 
volume;  but  we  must  go  farther;  we  must  give 
a  distinctly  Christian  note  to  our  treatment. 
While  most  of  what  is  written  here  has  the 
broadly  human  aspect,  it  is  all  intended  for  people 
who  are  already  inspired  by  the  motive  of  love  to 
God  as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  who  desire 
to  learn  what  the  Master  requires  of  men  and 
women  of  this  generation. 

The  social  teachings  of  Jesus  and  the  Hebrew 
prophets  have  long  been  the  theme  of  scholars  and 
no  attempt  is  made  here  to  rival  their  work  or 

*  Frederick  Harrison,  National  and  Social  Problems. 


C8531S 


viii  Preface 

even  summarize  their  studies.  The  man  of  affairs 
may  gain  inspiration  from  the  poets,  seers,  and 
prophets;  he  may  correct  his  narrow  generahza- 
tions  by  thinking  out  the  universal  principles  of 
life  which  were  the  theme  of  Plato  and  Aristotle 
as  well  as  of  Hosea  and  Isaiah ;  but  when  he 
comes  to  actual  conduct  he  must  know  the  present 
world  and  what  it  requires.  We  live  in  a  new 
world,  in  many  respects  utterly  unlike  all  others 
yet  heir  of  all  the  past.  The  problems  of  this 
age  are  the  most  complex  man  ever  faced,  and  the 
principles  of  life  are  tested  under  conditions  which 
have  been  freshly  created  by  the  forces  of  modern 
progress.  The  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  no 
longer  bows  and  arrows  but  long-range  cannon; 
the  self-binding  reaper  has  made  the  sickle  im- 
possible ;  the  telegraph  has  displaced  the  fire 
signals;  the  city  has  urbanized  the  country;  "new 
occasions  teach  new  duties."  The  youth  of  our 
churches  who  are  ambitious  to  lead  the  conduct 
of  men  must  first  become  competent  to  mold 
its  thoughts. 

The  treatment  found  in  this  textbook  is  brief, 
even  fragmentary;  it  is  only  a  push  and  a  hint. 
Perhaps  it  is  all  the  better  that  the  paragraphs 
contain  so  little  matter;  their  chief  purpose  is  to 
start  independent  thinking  and  give  it  the  right 
direction.      It    is   not   predigested   mental    food. 


Preface  ix 

offering  a  false  hope  of  easy  and  cheap  mastery 
of  vast  and  vital  problems;  it  is  a  call  to  intel- 
lectual labor;  it  is  a  summons  to  patriotic  and 
religious  toil.  He  who  has  honestly  labored  to 
find  his  path  of  duty  will  be  more  likely  to  pursue 
it  persistently  and  bravely.  The  sluggard  at  the 
study  lamp  is  a  coward  in  the  battle.  Great  and 
noble  deeds  grow  out  of  serious  and  prolonged 
reflection  and  communion  with  the  highest. 

We  may  cite  the  words  of  a  great  man  of 
science,  as  indicating  our  aim : 

But  the  boys  and  girls  for  whose  education  the  school 
boards  have  to  provide  have  not  merely  to  discharge 
domestic  duties,  but  each  of  them  is  a  member  of  a  social 
and  political  organization  of  great  complexity,  and  has, 
in  future  life,  to  fit  himself  into  that  organization,  or  be 
crushed  by  it.  To  this  end  it  is  surely  needful,  not  only 
that  they  be  made  acquainted  with  the  elementary  laws  of 
conduct,  but  that  their  affections  should  be  trained  so  as 
to  love  with  all  their  hearts  that  conduct  which  tends  to 
the  attainment  of  the  highest  good  for  themselves  and 
their  fellow-men,  and  to  hate  with  all  their  hearts  that 
opposite  course  of  action  which  is  fraught  with  evil.' 

The  fundamental  position  assumed  in  this  book 
is  controverted  by  men  of  worth  and  piety,  and 
this  position  would  be  here  defended  by  argu- 
ment had  this  not  already  been   done  by  such 

^  Thomas  Huxley,  Science  and  Education,  quoted  by  the 
Outlook,  August  8,   1908,  p.  789. 


X  Preface 

distinguished  men  as  Gladden,  Abbott,  Rauschen- 
busch,  Mathews,  Peabody,  Strong,  and  numerous 
others,  and  recently  accepted  by  official  action  of 
the  principal  denominations.  Twenty  years  ago 
such  arguments  were  needed;  now  it  is  hardly 
worth  while  to  repeat  them  and  it  is  difficult  to 
add  to  what  has  been  written.  Therefore  the 
principle  is  assumed  as  sustained  by  proof,  that 
the  churches  of  Christ  have  a  social  duty  and  a 
ministry  in  the  service  of  mankind  which  extends 
to  all  human  needs,  so  far  as  the  church  has 
resources  to  help. 

Rev.  Mr.  Clow,  the  well-known  Glasgow 
United  Free  Church  minister,  states  the  aban- 
doned doctrine  in  a  definite  form,  and  just  because 
he  is  a  man  of  capacity  and  character  his  words 
may  be  taken  as  typical.  In  writing  in  the  Scot- 
tish Reviezv  (as  cited  in  the  Dominion  Pres- 
byterian, September  2,  1908)  he  said  that  social 
service  is  good  work  but  not  for  the  church 
to  do. 

The  premiss  of  all  its  message  is  that  the  one  urgent 
need  of  men  is  to  be  brought  into  the  faith  and  fear  of 
God,  and  when  that  has  been  done  all  else  in  life  will 
become  pure  and  strong,  and  the  relationships  of  man  to 

man  shall  be  brotherly,  helpful,  true The  church's 

first  concern  is  not  the  relationship  of  man  to  man,  but 
the  relationship  of  man  to  God,  and,  therefore,  it  has  no 
mandate  from  Christ  to  study  the  problems  of  poverty,  or 


Preface  sd 

of  unemployment,  or  of  single-roomed  houses,  or  of  the 
relations  of  capital  and  labor. 

He  gives  three  reasons  for  this  claim :  that  these 
questions  he  beyond  the  church's  function,  as 
indicated  by  the  example  of  Jesus;  that  social 
betterment  will  be  sooner  and  more  wisely  realized 
through  other  agencies;  and  that  the  distinctive 
work  of  the  church  is  the  most  imperative  need 
of  the  time. 

Without  entering  into  a  prolonged  argument 
we  may  here  take  enough  space  to  remark  that 
we  fully  agree  with  the  critic  that  the  first  com- 
mandment is  not  only  faith  but  also  love  toward 
God ;  that  it  is  the  primary  function  of  the  church 
to  proclaim  this  creed;  that  the  highest  social 
service  is  the  awakening  of  the  religious  life  in 
the  full  Christian  meaning.  But  "the  second  com- 
mandment is  like  unto"  this  first,  love  to  our 
neighbor,  and  Jesus  spent  very  much  time,  energy, 
and  thought  on  the  physical  well-being  of  men, 
and  the  Bible  in  both  parts  covers  every  aspect 
of  human  duty.  Furthermore,  on  a  review  of 
the  facts  of  church  history,  we  are  obliged  to 
deny  that  Christian  men  have  done  their  human 
duties  and  inspired  the  life  of  the  world  without 
being  specifically  taught,  from  childhood  up,  what 
duty  required.  Many  thousands  of  pious  people 
have  gone  on  in  flagrant  and  cruel  neglect  of 


xii  Preface 

the  needs  of  their  fellow-men  because  their  spirit- 
ual guides  neglected  to  show  them  that  one  cannot 
obey  the  first  commandment  without  careful  and 
loyal  obedience  to  the  second  great  command- 
ment.   Faith  works  by  love. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     General  Survey i 

II.     Social  Duties  Relating  to  the 

Family 22 

III.  Social  Duties  Relating  to  Material 

Conditions  of  Family  Life  ,       .  52 

IV.  Social  Duties  to  Neglected  Children  77 
V.     Social  Duty  to  Workingmen       .       .  94 

VI.     Social  Duties  in  Rural  Communities  115 
VII.     Urban  Life:    Public  Health  138 
VIII.     Urban  Life:    Economic  Interests      .  154 
IX.     Urban  Educational  Agencies      .       .  168 
X.     Duties  of  the  Church  in  Urban  Com- 
munities         189 

XI.    Social  Duties  of  Urban  Life:  Munici- 
pal Government       ....  204 
XII.    Charities  and  Correction    .       .       .  224 

XIII.  Rights  and  Responsibilities  of  the 

Great  Corporations       .       .       .  241 

XIV.  Social  Duties  Relating  to  the  Busi- 

ness Class  and  the  Leisure  Class  265 
XV.     Social  Duties  in  Relation  to  Govern- 
ment        277 

XVL     Social  Duties  in  International  Rela- 
tions        300 

Index 327 


CHAPTER  I 
GENERAL  SURVEY 
I.       INTRODUCTION 

I.  The  present  situation. — Many  teachers  of 
young  men  and  young  women  have  discovered 
that  rehgious  and  moral  instruction  must  be  made 
concrete  and  practical  at  the  approach  of  majority. 
About  the  sixteenth  year  the  young  person  be- 
comes conscious  of  new  powers  and  needs,  and 
often  thinks  seriously  of  the  responsibilities  of 
husband,  wife,  citizen,  manager  of  business,  par- 
ent. The  generative,  creative  impulses  irradiate 
and  profoundly  influence  the  entire  life.  The  su- 
preme choices  of  life  must  be  made  at  a  time  when 
experience  and  knowledge  are  still  limited.  That 
must  be  a  dull  youth  who  does  not  in  some  meas- 
ure consider  what  is  involved  in  the  selection  of 
a  calling,  a  wife,  a  political  party,  a  religious 
creed,  associations  for  business  and  pleasure,  a 
system  of  conduct.  We  notice  at  this  epoch  an 
irritable  restlessness,  an  impatience  with  intro- 
spection, with  commonplace  homilies,  with  teach- 
ing about  ancient  ways;  for  the  young  man 
recognizes  nothing  akin  to  his  problems  in  much 
that  goes  under  the  name  of  religious  instruction. 
This  impatience  is  part  explanation  of  the  general 


2  Social  Duties 

exodus  from  Sunday  school  at  the  turn  into 
maturity ;  not  the  sole  cause,  for  passion,  reckless- 
ness, frivolity,  untamed  animalism,  eagerness  to 
be  amused,  press  the  more  superficial  into  ques- 
tionable paths.  But  many  even  of  the  giddy 
might  become  interested  in  a  kind  of  teaching 
which  avoids  repetition  of  traditions  and  monoto- 
nous adherence  to  consecrated  dulness,  and  which 
at  every  lesson  suggests  a  work  to  be  done, 
organizes  useful  efforts,  and  presents  the  informa- 
tion which  is  necessary  to  make  effort  really  use- 
ful. It  has  been  discovered  that  youth  who  find 
it  simply  impossible  to  follow  the  fortunes  of 
Saul,  Samuel,  and  Peter  for  the  fiftieth  round, 
will  attend  regularly  where  a  practical  leader 
compels  every  member  to  confront  at  every  lesson 
some  immediate  task  within  his  power.  A  person 
old  enough  to  choose  for  himself,  and  serious 
enough  to  do  any  real  thinking,  demands  science 
and  law,  contemporary  fact,  rather  than  insipid 
anecdote  and  threadbare  exhortation.  And  this 
demand  of  youth  is  unconsciously  near  to  a  prin- 
ciple of  Christ  himself:  If  any  man  is  willing  to 
do,  he  shall  know.  The  gate  into  faith  is  not 
dreaming  and  meditating  and  analyzing  virtues 
alone,  but  right  and  wise  action — action  which 
instantly  follows  the  clear  call  of  duty.  It  is  a 
pity  that  a  good  lad  should  come  to  associate 


General  Survey  3 

Bible  instruction  with  ideas  remote  from  the 
issues  of  his  own  life,  when  he  hears  some  shrewd 
poHtician,  or  saloon  orator,  or  bright  labor  leader 
discuss  with  fervor  and  intelligence  matters  with 
which  he  must  soon  deal.  At  the  moment  when 
the  lad  acquires  liberty,  and  when  constraint  has 
become  impossible,  he  needs  more  than  at  any 
other  crisis  a  mature  leader  who  represents  not 
only  amiable  sentiments,  but  reliable  knowledge 
of  this  world  and  of  modes  of  activity  which  ofifer 
wholesome  channels  for  the  superabundant  energy 
of  opening  manhood.  Not  less  desirable  is  the 
training  in  reflection  and  self-restraint  which 
comes  from  comparing  opinions  with  others. 
Youth  is  rash  and  opinionated,  more  ready  to  act 
than  to  think,  sure  of  itself,  and  that  because  of 
ignorance  of  the  amazing  complexity  of  social 
life  and  its  problems. 

It  is  with  a  view  to  meeting  this  situation  and 
helping  in  the  solution  of  problems  thus  presented 
that  the  series  of  chapters  on  "Social  Duties," 
of  which  this  is  the  first,  has  been  prepared.  In 
this  introduction  the  immediate  aim  is  to  give 
a  general  survey  of  the  entire  field  of  conduct, 
and  to  suggest  the  breadth  of  ,this  territory 
rather  than  to  take  up  any  specific  problem  for 
treatment.  The  articles  which  follow  are  intended 
to   furnish   some  hints   for   Sunday  lessons  for 


4  Social  Duties 

groups  of  young  people  who  cannot  be  held  to- 
gether by  the  conventional  methods  of  teaching 
the  Bible.  They  will  demand  serious  study  and 
considerable  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  leader. 
Yet  an  earnest  man  with  modest  equipment  of 
books  can  accomplish  good  results,  if  he  will  set 
the  entire  group  at  work  investigating  the  ques- 
tions, reading  the  books  cited,  and  discussing 
situations  in  the  neighborhood  which  are  of  moral 
interest  and  demand  moral  choices.  Local  pro- 
fessional men,  as  physicians,  teachers,  lawyers, 
bankers,  legislators,  labor  leaders,  may  be  invited 
to  supplement  the  other  sources  of  information. 
Discussion  should  be  encouraged,  because  the 
mental  effort  to  shape  a  question,  to  state  a  fact, 
to  urge  an  argument,  has  a  high  educational 
value.* 

^  Professor  J.  M.  Coulter,  who  has  had  remarkable  success 
with  just  such  a  class  as  is  here  contemplated,  writes  of  his 
experience  with  discussions :  "I  have  found  that  in  my 
class,  made  up  of  representatives  from  almost  every  form  of 
activity,  the  calling  for  personal  experiences  in  reference  to 
any  problem  results  not  only  in  interest,  but  in  a  contribu- 
tion of  most  heterogeneous  and  contradictory  material.  This 
not  only  provokes  discussion,  but  illustrates  the  vast  difficulty 
of  such  subjects,  and  the  necessity  of  taking  many  things 
into  consideration  before  such  experiences  can  be  harmo- 
nized. This  has  taught  the  men  the  folly  of  snap-shot  judg- 
ments, and  has  made  them  appreciate  that  a  subject  must 
be  investigated  with  an  open  mind  before  any  conclusion  is 
worthy  of  consideration." 


General  Survey  5 

The  Bible  stimulates  to  right  conduct,  but  does 
not  make  study  of  our  own  situation  unnecessary. 
Each  generation  must  work  out  for  itself  the 
regulations  of  its  life  which  correspond  to  its  own 
conditions  of  justice  and  well-being.^ 

These  articles  will  not  attempt  by  hortatory 
methods  to  induce  the  inner  and  personal  disposi- 
tions of  the  Christian  character.  What  is  sought 
is  to  aid  the  personal  influence  of  holy  teachers  by 
directing  motives  to  suitable  expression.  The 
world  itself  is  a  witness  to  God  and  a  field  for 
the  training  of  Christian  character.  In  the  pur- 
suit of  the  right  way  to  do  good  we  find  ourselves 
in  near  companionship  with  our  Lord.  And  many 
a  skeptical  man  has  found  his  way  unconsciously 
back  to  certainty  of  faith  by  becoming  interested 
in  some  unselfish  and  Christlike  work  such  as 
Jesus  himself  would  be  doing  in  the  same  circum- 
stances. A  true  Bible  class  should  be  something 
more  than  a  debating  club  with  a  merely  theo- 
retical and  speculative  end ;  it  should  become 
responsible  for  one  or  more  forms  of  practical 
service — personal  service  for  the  neighborhood 
and  gifts  of  money  for  fields  too  distant  for  direct 
labors  of  members  of  the  class. ^ 

The  Bible  is  the  supreme  spiritual  ferment  and 

'  See  Mackenzie,  Manual  of  Ethics,  pp.  271,  272. 

'A  few  citations  from  the  writings  of  men  of  devout  life 


6  Social  Duties 

moral  influence  in  the  life  of  mankind,  but  it  is 
not,  and  cannot  be  made,  a  code  of  legislation. 
It  teaches,  reproves,  corrects,  instructs  in  the 
quality  of  righteousness  by  precept,  biography, 
poetry,  and  most  of  all  by  the  story  or  Jesus; 
but  it  does  not  furnish  a  substitute  for  hard  study 
of  present  duties.  Some  of  the  problems  on 
which  students  of  social  progress  are  busy  toiling 
relate  to  aims,  others  to  institutions  through 
which   social    ideals   are   realized,    and   some   to 

and  spiritual  insight  into  the  nature  of  Christianity  may  here 
be  suggestive : 

"All  religion  has  relation  to  life,  and  the  life  of  religion  is 
to  do  good."^ — Swedenborg, 

"The  Christian  religion  consists  in  performing  worthily  the 
duties  we  owe  to  God,  our  neighbor,  and  ourselves.  Christian 
religion  is  plain  and  easy  to  understand  by  all  such  as  are 
desirous  to  understand  it.  The  order  to  be  observed  in  keep- 
ing God's  commandments :  Moral  duties,  where  both  cannot, 
must  be  observed  before  positive  injunctions ;  'I  will  have 
mercy  and  not  sacrifice,'  saith  our  Savior.  Works  of  charity 
before  works  of  piety.  Religion  of  the  end — namely,  those 
acts  of  religion,  those  virtues,  which  have  an  intrinsic  good- 
ness in  them — before  religion  of  the  means,  namely,  those 
instrumental  duties  which  are  only  means  of  attaining  the 
other." — Bishop  Wilson,  Maxims  of  Piety  and  Christianity. 

"It  is  not  his  [Jesus']  words  at  all  as  such,  but  the  morally 
necessary,  that  must  be  obeyed,  and  his  words  only  in  case 
they  mirror  the  morally  necessary  for  us  and  in  our  situa- 
tion  We    are    not    confronted    with    the    end    of    the 

world  but  with  an  infinitude  of  tasks  which  the  God  of  nature 
and  of  history  has  set  us." — G.  B.  Foster,  The  Finality  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  pp.  464,  465. 


General  Survey  7 

methods  of  individual  action  and  social  co-opera- 
tion. 

2.  The  elements  of  the  situation,  (a)  Condi- 
tions of  welfare. — There  are  certain  social  con- 
ditions which  must  be  provided  by  community 
action  and  sustained  by  sentiment,  government, 
and  united  labor  in  order  that  personal  character 
and  general  welfare  may  be  fostered.  These  are : 
liberty  for  personal  initiative,  security  and  order, 
and  opportunity  of  every  member  of  society  to 
act  in  the  full  range  of  his  powers.  In  the  mind 
of  the  revolutionist,  chafing  at  hoary  tradition 
and  angry  with  legal  wrong,  liberty  promises  all. 
To  the  conservative,  comfortable  in  possession  of 
a  competence  and  identified  with  parties  in  power, 
the  word  "order"  has  the  more  attractive  sound. 
To  the  ambitious  proletarian,  handicapped  by 
poverty  and  ignorance,  equality  seems  the  goal  of 
endeavor.  In  a  wide  view  all  these  conditions 
of  welfare  are  recognized  as  legitimate,  and  all 
must  be  harmonized. 

b)  Aims  of  social  effort. — Man  is  an  animal, 
with  all  the  wants  and  needs  of  the  animal.  He 
must  have  food,  shelter,  recreation,  air,  light, 
and  all  else  that  gives  strength,  vigor,  ability  to 
act  and  endure.  Since  the  material  world  supplies 
standing-room  and  the  materials  and  forces 
through  which  artist,  statesman,  theologian,  mis- 


8  Social  Duties 

sionary,  and  philanthropist  make  ideals  reality, 
men  must  harness  and  utilize  nature,  by  labor  and 
contrivance,  by  production  of  goods,  and  by  regu- 
lation of  division  of  the  product.  The  physician, 
the  economist,  the  manufacturer,  the  merchant, 
may  be  inclined  to  set  wealth  in  too  high  and  ex- 
clusive a  position;  may  identify  sanitation  and 
commerce  with  social  progress ;  may  scorn  ethical 
and  aesthetic  elements  in  the  social  aim;  but  no 
one,  not  even  the  most  spiritual  saint,  can  deny 
the  necessity  for  a  material  basis  of  life. 

But  the  ultimate  values  of  existence  are  those 
of  thought  made  systematic  and  complete  in 
science;  of  beauty  realized  in  the  artistic  works  of 
poets,  painters,  singers,  actors,  architects,  sculp- 
tors, orators,  and  gracious  homemakers  with  their 
fine  feminine  touch  upon  all  objects  of  daily  use. 
In  the  kindly  fellowship  of  daily  intercourse,  in 
the  widening  sympathies  which  sweeten  contacts, 
in  the  stern  and  austere  assertion  of  righteousness 
and  honesty,  and,  highest  of  all,  in  the  reverence 
and  love  of  man  to  God,  do  we  come  upon  the 
ultimate  and  self-justifying  goods  of  existence. 
In  the  degree  in  which  all  these  factors  of  well- 
being  are  diffused  among  men  is  there  social 
progress.  To  genius  we  owe  most  new  begin- 
nings and  positive  additions  to  knowledge  and 
beauty  and  goodness,  but  only  as  the  race  moves 


General  Survey  g 

forward  to  universal  possession  and  enjoyment 
of  all  kinds  of  good  can  we  claim  advance  in  the 
truest  sense.  In  a  clear  view  of  these  natural  and 
spiritual  values  do  we  discover  our  definition  and 
our  measure  of  social  progress. 

c)  Institutions  and  organisations. — But  these 
aims  are  realized  only  by  personal  activity  in 
connection  with  institutions  created  to  facilitate 
the  common  enjoyment  of  the  achievements  of 
the  best  members  of  the  community  and  the  race. 
Ascending  from  the  most  simple  to  the  most 
extended  of  social  groups,  we  discover  that  hu- 
manity has  produced,  in  the  long  past  of  its  evolu- 
tion, the  family,  the  rural  community,  the  town 
and  city,  the  commonwealth,  the  nation,  and  is 
now  building  up,  under  the  name  of  international 
law,  a  system  of  regulations  for  the  conduct  of 
nations  in  relations  with  each  other.  Within 
these  larger  communities,  and  crossing  their  lines 
of  division,  men  have  produced  voluntary  associa- 
tions for  all  kinds  of  purposes,  as  economic 
partnerships  and  companies,  educational  societies, 
churches,  and  extended  federations  of  these,  some 
of  them  wider  than  any  kingdom  or  republic. 
And  if  we  look  into  any  considerable  group  of 
persons  bound  together  in  a  large  community,  we 
discover  classes  or  strata  of  like  persons  whose 
attitude  to  others  becomes  important  in  relation 


lo  Social  Duties 

to  progress  in  wealth,  health,  and  culture;  as  the 
criminals,  the  dependents,  the  industrials,  the 
leisure  class,  and  perhaps  others. 

One  fruitful  method  of  classifying  the  various 
forms  of  social  effort  which  are  now  occupying 
the  attention  and  absorbing  the  energy  of  students 
and  practical  workers  is  to  isolate  for  the  time 
each  group  or  class  in  turn,  and  discover  the 
points  at  which  both  thought  and  labor  are  being 
most  intensively  applied.  Only  a  few  illustra- 
tions can  find  room  here,  and  even  these  might 
be  expanded  into  an  encyclopaedia. 

II.       PRACTICAL    PROBLEMS 

I.  The  family. — We  begin  where  life  begins, 
with  the  family.  Of  recent  years  the  sex  and 
domestic  groups  have  enlisted  a  vast  amount  of 
serious  and  valuable  scientific  study  on  the  part 
of  anthropologists,  ethnologists,  psychologists, 
physicians,  historians,  lawyers,  and  sociologists. 
Only  in  the  history  of  origin  and  development 
do  we  come  to  a  full  understanding  of  the  founda- 
tions of  morality  in  the  most  vital  relation  of 
persons  in  society.  At  this  moment  the  whole 
power  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  is, 
for  the  second  time,  directed  upon  a  scientific  in- 
vestigation of  the  extent  and  causes  of  divorce, 
and  of  the  legal  methods  of  regulating  this  evil, 


General  Survey  ii 

and  the  evils  which  lead  to  divorce.  How  helpless 
the  isolated  individual  is  can  be  made  sensible  by 
this  undertaking  on  behalf  of  the  home.  Every 
aspect  of  marriage  and  domestic  life  has  signifi- 
cance for  religion,  righteousness,  character,  as 
well  as  for  material  well-being.  The  regulation 
of  courtship,  the  publicity  of  announcements,  the 
registration  of  marriage,  and  education  in  the 
physical  and  spiritual  preparation  of  youth  for 
marriage,  are  vital  questions,  perhaps  far  more 
important  than  divorce  itself.  On  all  these  prob- 
lems exegetical  science  helps  a  certain  way;  but 
common-sense  shows  that  the  modern  world  faces 
problems  which  could  not  even  occur  to  Jesus 
himself.  The  scientific  and  practical  problems 
relating  to  the  protection  and  improvement  of 
domestic  life  are  of  supreme  moment :  the  better- 
ment of  the  tenement  house  in  cities  and  rural 
hygiene  for  the  country;  public  baths,  parks, 
playgrounds,  outings,  home  libraries,  child  labor, 
woman  labor,  and  every  effort  to  improve  income, 
encourage  thrift,  provide  insurance  when  the 
bread-winner  fails — all  these  merely  suggest  the 
wide  field  in  which  the  entire  power  of  the  nation 
is  required  to  save  and  help  the  most  modest 
household.  The  National  League  for  the  Protec- 
tion of  the  Family  and  the  National  Child  Labor 
Committee    are    illustrations    of    this    multiform 


12  Social  Duties 

activity.  Settlements,  vacation  schools,  juvenile 
courts,  "institutional  churches"  among  the  poor, 
associations  to  protect  children  from  cruelty  and 
neglect,  the  federation  called  the  National  Chil- 
dren's Home  Society,  and  a  myriad  local  societies, 
are  witness  to  the  av^^akened  conscience  in  relation 
to  family  and  child-life. 

2.  The  rural  community. — The  beginning  of 
scientific  study  of  the  cultural  interests  of  the 
rural  community  is  only  of  recent  date.  Already 
a  splendid  literature  has  grown  up  concerned  with 
the  science  and  arts  of  horticulture,  agriculture, 
chemistry  of  soils,  botany  and  entomology  in 
application  to  rural  industry,  the  economics  of 
agriculture,  markets,  wages,  leases,  and  all  such 
matters;  but  now  we  are  thinking  much  more  of 
the  breeding  and  education  of  the  people  as  modi- 
fied by  the  conditions  of  rural  existence.  The 
activity  of  women  in  rural  granges  and  institutes 
is  earnest  of  a  larger  attention  given  to  the 
aesthetic  and  sociable  aspects  of  the  new  studies. 
The  tasks  and  difficulties  and  prospects  of  rural 
churches  are  just  now  attracting  attention,  all  the 
more  because  many  city  people  have  begun  to 
spend  much  of  their  time  in  the  country.  The 
necessity  for  co-operation  between  churches  to 
prevent  economic  starvation,  and  consequent 
spiritual  bleeding  to  death,  has  hastened  the  decay 


General  Survey  13 

of  sectarianism  and  promoted  the  dissolution  of 
mere  doctrine  as  a  basis  of  ecclesiastical  tests  and 
organization.  In  the  selection  and  education  of 
rural  populations  state  and  nation  must  combine 
with  individuals  and  voluntary  associations.  He 
who  advocates  mere  "individualism"  as  a  remedy 
for  all  ills  and  a  solution  of  problems  ignores  an 
essential  condition  of  progress. 

3.  The  city. — The  problems  of  urban  life  have 
received  earlier  and  more  general  scientific  and 
practical  treatment;  for  in  cities  the  congestion 
and  friction  of  population  have  made  investiga- 
tion and  action  urgent.  A  few  years  ago  the  chief 
attention  was  given  to  the  machinery  of  city 
governments,  and  men  talked  and  wrote  much  of 
civil-service  reform,  primary  elections,  double  and 
single  chambers,  powers  of  mayors,  charters,  and 
the  like.  These  subjects  are  still  interesting  and 
for  a  long  time  to  come  must  be  studied,  and  labor 
must  be  consecrated  to  improve  the  forms  and 
methods  of  administration.  But  greater  emphasis 
is  laid  at  present  upon  what  the  people  wish  to  do 
with  all  this  administrative  machinery.  How  far 
can  local  governments  go  in  protection  against 
local  monopoly  without  hindering  initiative  and 
retarding  experiment?  How  far  are  municipal 
trading  and  manufacture  advisable?  What  can 
the    urban    community    do   to    provide    for   the 


14  Social  Duties 

crowded  multitudes  of  operatives  fit  dwellings, 
clean  streets,  open  spaces,  playgrounds,  schools, 
baths,  libraries,  museums,  lectures,  and  all  the 
incentives  to  a  life  of  culture? 

4.  The  state. — The  coiniuonzvealth  is  coming 
to  receive  more  study  and  to  assume  wider  func- 
tions. Most  of  the  revenues  of  each  state  go  to 
education,  charity,  and  repression  of  crime.  The 
state  has  not  had  hitherto  a  very  large  field  for 
direct  administration  of  positive  measures  of 
social  advancement;  and  even  in  the  future  there 
will  be  more  or  less  rivalry  with  the  federal  gov- 
ernment in  this  matter.  As  soon  as  a  business  or 
an  interest  grows  large  enough  for  state  action, 
it  outgrows  state  limits  and  becomes  interstate 
activity,  as  railroads  and  insurance.  Neverthe- 
less, the  doctrine  of  state  rights  means  state  duties, 
and  in  workingmen's  protection  and  insurance  we 
see  in  the  immediate  future  the  probability  of 
considerable  social  enterprise  for  the  state.  The 
co-ordination  and  improvement  of  schools  depend 
on  extension  of  state  activity,  while  many  local 
abuses  in  matters  of  charity  and  police  must  be 
corrected  by  that  expert  supervision  and  control 
which  only  a  commonwealth  can  supply. 

5.  The  nation. — It  seems  ridiculous  even  to 
mention  so  vast  a  subject  as  national  social  admin- 
istration in  the  brief  space  now  at  command ;  yet 


General  Survey  15 

for  the  sake  of  the  suggestion  we  may  mention 
the  national  demand  for  pure-food  laws,  meat 
inspection,  and  regulation  of  the  costs  of  trans- 
portation. Postal  savings  banks  and  parcels  post 
have  often  been  asked  for,  but  the  movement  has 
thus  far  been  defeated  in  this  country,  apparently 
by  interested  commercial  cliques.  The  national 
Congress  and  the  scientific  departments  for  inves- 
tigation and  publication  are  among  our  chief 
agents  of  social  progress. 

6.  International  affairs. — International  move- 
ments which  are  worthy  of  special  mention 
in  this  connection  are  those  which  aim  to  mitigate 
the  cruelties  of  battle,  to  diminish  the  occasions 
of  war,  to  determine  disputes  by  judicial  process 
without  resort  to  arms,  and  the  policing  of  un- 
civilized parts  of  the  world  without  exploitation 
of  simple  peoples  who  have  not  the  arms  and 
organization  of  the  favored  nations.  In  this 
connection  should  be  considered  the  enterprises  of 
foreign  missions,  of  the  circulation  of  the  best 
literature  of  Christian  culture  in  Asia  and  Africa 
and  of  the  establishment  of  Christian  schools  in 
all  parts  of  the  earth. 

7.  Dependents  and  delinquents. — Some  of  the 
social  problems  which  await  the  instructions  of 
time  and  study  relate  to  the  anti-social  or  criminal 
group   of   the   population.      Methods   of   prison 


1 6  Social  Duties 

discipline  and  prison  labor  and  the  "indeterminate 
sentence"  occupy  the  minds  of  administrators; 
but  such  preventive  and  educational  measures  as 
can  be  applied  by  the  philanthropic  public,  and 
which  diminish  the  need  for  costly  penitentiaries, 
command  more  sympathy  than  formerly.  This  is 
true  also  of  dealing  with  dependence  in  its  various 
aspects.  Relief  will  continue  to  require  the  best 
thought  and  large  sacrifices  of  the  people;  but 
economic,  sanitary,  and  educational  improve- 
ments will  in  great  measure  diminish  the  resort 
to  charity. 

8.  The  leisure  class. — We  have  not  yet  much 
discussed  the  fate  and  fortunes  of  the  recently 
developed  "leisure  class"  which  has  sprung  up 
in  the  path  of  a  generation  of  successful  men  who 
never  knew  what  leisure  meant;  while  some  of 
their  children  seem  unable  to  find  out  its  use  and 
opportunity.  This  is  too  large  a  subject  for  a 
paragraph  of  hints. 

9.  The  industrial  group. — The  industrial  group 
has  a  vitality  of  its  own,  and  through  the  trade- 
union  has  forced  itself  upon  public  notice.  The 
growth  of  cities  is  the  growth  of  this  group  in 
numbers  and  political  power;  and  wage-workers 
are  conscious  of  this  power  and  determined  to  use 
it.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  student  of  eco- 
nomic politics  the  demand  is  for  means  of  thrift 


General  Survey  17 

and  insurance,  protection  of  workingmen  against 
the  dangers  of  accident  and  disease  in  employ- 
ments, prevention  of  the  exploitation  of  children 
through  premature  labor  without  the  advantages 
of  play  and  school,  and  the  proper  regulation  of 
the  industries  in  which  women  are  engaged. 
Later  will  come  questions  of  the  effect  of  this  new 
political  power  among  us  on  art,  science,  culture, 
productive  processes,  morality,  and  religion. 

III.       SOCIAL    MORALITY 

The  words  "morality"  and  "immorality"  are 
quite  generally  used  in  a  very  narrow  sense,  fre- 
quently indicating  nothing  more  than  obser/ance 
or  non-observance  of  the  rules  of  sexual  propriety. 
Sometimes  even  strong  writers  intimate  or  dis- 
tinctly declare  that  morality  has  to  do  only  with 
personal  motives  of  the  unseen  life  of  the  spirit. 
In  the  present  work  all  this  is  included  and  much 
more.  It  is  taken  for  granted  that  the  require- 
ments of  sexual  purity  are  known,  and  that  all 
good  conduct  must  spring  from  good  motives. 
In  the  books  on  ethics  all  this  has  been  urged  a 
thousand  times.  In  this  series  of  studies  we  are 
to  study  social  morality  and  social  duties.  By 
social  morality  we  mean  that  kind  of  conduct  of 
associated  persons  which,  on  the  whole,  tends  to 
promote  the  common  welfare  in  the  entire  range 


i8  Social  Duties 

of  meaning  of  the  word  welfare,  as  outlined  in 
this  first  chapter.  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them;"  a  good  tree  will  bear  good  fruit,  and  good 
conduct  will  further  the  common  good.  We  can- 
not see  the  inner  motives  of  men;  we  can  see 
and  understand  what  they  do. 

Every  word  in  each  paragraph  of  this  article 
suggests  reading  and  effort  for  many  earnest 
years.  Life  must  be  worth  living  so  long  as  there 
is  so  much  danger  and  evil  in  the  world,  and 
splendid  opportunity  for  the  men  and  women  who 
know  and  love  and  have  faith  in  God.  In  subse- 
quent articles  suggestions  will  be  made  for  serious 
study  of  some  of  these  problems  by  Bible  classes 
of  youth  and  mature  persons. 

The  common  problem,  yours,  mine,  everyone's, 
Is — not  to  fancy  what  were  fair  in  life 
Provided  it  could  be, — but,  finding  first 
What  may  be,  then  find  how  to  make  it  fair 
Up  to  our  means.  .  .  . 
Make  Paradise  of  London  if  j'ou  can. 

— R.   Browning,  Bishop  Bloughram's   Apology. 

SUGGESTIONS  TO  1  EACHERS 

The  following  suggestions  are  intended  for  the  use  of 
teachers  who  use  this  chapter  as  an  introductory  lesson 
with  a  class  which  is  gathered  with  the  purpose  to  pursue 
the  general  subject  during  the  year  at  stated  times. 

I.  The  selected  leader  or  teacher  should  ask  each  mem- 
ber of  the  class  to  give  him  at  once  written   statements 


General  Survey  ig 

of  social  problems,  or  moral  difficulties  arising  in  his  occu- 
pation and  other  experiences;  of  temptations  which  must 
be  overcome;  of  subjects  on  which  good  men  are  of 
divided  opinion  in  situations  where  action  of  some  kind 
is  urgent  and  necessary. 

2.  For  several  meetings  close  attention  should  be  given 
to  social  aims.  Aimless  study  and  teaching  is  like  the 
blind  leading  the  blind.  The  captain  of  a  ship  directs  the 
prow  of  his  vessel  toward  the  port  he  would  reach.  What 
do  men  desire?  What  is  of  most  worth  and  value?  What 
is  proper  to  seek  as  means,  and  what  is  supremely  valuable 
as  end  of  life  itself?  Some  hints  are  given  in  this  article, 
but  each  person  should  strive  to  set  before  himself  his 
own  goals  and  criticize  them,  test  them,  and  try  to  fix  his 
purpose  and  effort  on  objects  according  to  some  scale  of 
reasonable  value.  Riches  are  good,  but  are  they  good 
enough  to  buy  at  the  price  of  honesty,  purity,  health,  and 
religion?  Learning  is  good,  and  a  college  education  is 
desirable;  but  would  we  praise  a  young  man  who  left  his 
aged  mother  to  starve  while  he  went  to  the  university? 
Turn  these  questions  over  in  all  thinkable  ways,  and  start 
similar  problems. 

3.  Discuss  the  use  to  the  community  of  various  familiar 
institutions,  offices,  and  private  enterprises ;  as,  for  example, 
the  courts  of  the  county,  the  jail,  the  school,  the  township 
trustee,  various  laws,  an  insurance  company,  a  bank,  a 
collection  of  books  and  pictures,  a  church. 

While  the  leader  must  not  permit  the  discussion  to 
degenerate  into  idle  gossip  and  speculation  about  things 
not  practical,  he  should  not  discourage  honest  and  sincere, 
even  if  awkward,  attempts  to  enter  into  the  study.  If  a 
rather  irrevelant  subject  seems  to  be  dragged  in  by  the 
ears,  and  there  is   no  time   to  consider   it,   let   it  be  set 


20  Social  Duties 

down  for  future  notice.  If  some  cranky  person  insists 
upon  monopolizing  time  by  long-winded  speeches,  the 
leader  may  announce  a  five-minute  rule  which  must  not  be 
trespassed  without  vote  of  the  class.  Even  cranky  people 
with  hobbies  to  ride  sometimes  serve  a  useful  purpose  in 
stirring  up  thought.  The  leader  must  not  be  dogmatic,  or 
he  ceases  to  be  a  teacher.  The  object  is  not  to  settle 
complex  questions,  but  to  educate,  instruct,  inspire,  and 
find  right  ways  of  doing  useful  actions.  It  is  not  well 
to  bring  questions  to  a  vote  of  the  class,  for  this  makes 
every  speaker  more  a  debater  for  personal  victory  than  a 
seeker  after  truth  and  duty.  If  all  sides  have  been  heard, 
no  harm  is  done  if  the  members  of  the  class  part  to  think 
over  the  whole  discussion  each  for  himself.  These 
chapters  are  to  be  used  as  fraternal  helps,  and  are  not 
for  slavish  imitation.  When  a  topic  is  of  living  interest 
to  the  class,  then  is  the  time  to  discuss  it.  Local  events, 
tragedies  of  ignorance  and  sin,  may  furnish  the  best 
starting-points   for  a  new  lesson. 

4.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  lessons  in  this  book  should 
be  studied  in  the  exact  order  in  which  they  are  printed.  If 
the  leaders  discover  a  very  great  local  interest  in  a  certain 
subject  it  may  be  taken  up  at  once.  Yet  the  book  should 
be  read  carefully  from  the  beginning  to  end  by  all  the 
class  as  soon  as  possible,  because  in  the  earlier  chapters 
fundamental  principles  are  discussed,  the  whole  .pro- 
gramme is  outlined  and  explained,  and  the  lessons  proceed 
from  narrower  and  simpler  conditions  to  larger,  more 
complex,  and  intricate  problems. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

The  following  books  are  recommended  in  the  A.  L.  A. 
Catalogue,  a   list   of   books   published    for   the   American 


General  Survey  21 

Library  Association  by  the  Library  of  Congress,  in  1904 
That  catalogue  may  be  found  generally  in  libraries.  Only 
a  few  titles  of  popular  works  can  here  be  mentioned. 

J.   S.   Mackenzie,  Manual  of  Ethics. 

Charles  Wagner,  Youth  and  Courage. 

Small  and  Vincent,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Society. 

C.  D.  Wright,  Outline  of  Practical  Sociology. 

F.  H.  Giddings,  Elements  of  Sociology. 

The  same  catalogue  recommends  C.  R.  Henderson. 
Social  Spirit  in  America,  and  Social  Elements. 

The  Encyclopaedia  of  Reforms,  edited  by  W.  D.  P. 
Bliss  (new  ed.,  1908),  published  by  Funk  &  Wagnalls  Co., 
will  be  found  convenient.  It  contains  brief  articles  on 
many  aspects  of  social  duties,  and  furnishes  many  useful 
references  for  further  reading. 

J.  Dewey  and  J.  H.  Tufts,  Ethics,  is  a  very  important 
recent  work  on  the  subject. 

All  the  above  are  of  a  general  character;  in  the  suc- 
ceeding articles  books  will  be  mentioned  for  each  special 
subject. 


CHAPTER  II 

SOCIAL  DUTIES   RELATING  TO  THE  FAMILY 

I.       COURTSHIP 

I.  The  scope  and  purpose  of  this  section. — It 
is  impossible  for  any  one  person,  especially  in  a 
brief  discussion,  to  bring  to  light  all  possible  facts 
in  respect  to  any  particular  institution  of  society. 
All  that  we  can  attempt  is  to  induce  groups  of 
earnest,  thinking  people  to  observe  and  reflect, 
and  to  take  into  account,  in  forming  their  moral 
judgments,  all  the  essential  elements  of  a  situation 
which  should  have  influence  on  the  conduct  of 
individuals  and  communities.  Social  conduct  is 
shown,  not  only  in  formal  laws  passed  by  legisla- 
tures and  enforced  in  courts,  but  also  in  customs, 
manners,  fashions,  language,  rules  of  discipline 
in  churches,  standards  for  receiving  and  rejecting 
persons  from  social  circles,  and  even  in  gestures 
and  facial  expression. 

In  this  study  of  the  family,  and  in  all  the  later 
chapters,  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  piety,  love, 
sympathy,  purity,  devotion,  self-sacrifice,  veracity, 
courage,  temperance,  as  qualities  of  individual 
character,  are  recognized  as  supreme  goods  to  be 
cultivated  and  sought.  To  perfect  the  spirit,  or 
rather  to  give  it  perpetual  impulse  to  expand  in 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  23 

every  right  direction,  is  the  end  and  aim  of  all 
right  conduct. 

What  we  have  here  to  study  is  the  situation 
and  conduct  which  are  favorable  or  unfavorable 
to  the  progress  of  the  best  life  of  each  person,  and 
so  also  the  regulations  which  public  opinion  and 
law  ought  to  lay  down  for  the  actions  of  young- 
people  in  a  critical  period  of  life. 

2.  The  customs  of  courtship. — In  our  time  and 
country  this  part  of  conduct  is  left  very  free  to 
young  people,  and  this  gives  all  the  more  reason 
for  teaching  young  people  what  is  the  meaning 
of  courtship,  what  are  its  ends  and  dangers,  and 
what  duties  are  involved. 

The  first  step  is  to  set  before  the  mind  of  all 
concerned,  and  that  at  a  very  early  period,  the 
facts  relating  to  the  subject;  for  adolescence  is 
full  of  illusions,  delusions,  fancies,  errors,  dreams, 
and  confusion.  Plain  language  rather  than  senti- 
mentalism  is  at  once  most  pure  and  most  helpful. 
Briefly  stated,  some  of  the  vital  considerations 
are  such  as  these:  With  the  rise  of  sex-feehng, 
persons  of  both  sexes  are  drawn  to  each  other  by 
an  influence  they  did  not  feel  in  the  earlier  years 
of  childhood,  and  at  first  they  do  not  know  what 
the  new  force  means.  The  fact  that  sex-appetite 
awakens  before  knowledge  of  consequences  is  a 
peril  of  youth,  and  calls  for  careful  instruction 


24  Social  Duties 

by  parents,  teachers,  and  physicians.  From  the 
accidental  meetings  of  youth  friendships  arise 
which  may  hallow  or  blight  all  subsequent  life. 
Girls  and  boys  of  early  youth  are  alternately 
attracted  and  repelled,  and  instinct  is  a  fallible 
guide.  It  is  the  moment  when  mere  childish  in- 
nocence must  be  armed  with  information  as  to 
the  significance  of  sex;  its  moral  possibilities  of 
honor  and  good,  its  dangers  of  shame  and  sin. 
Friendship  in  a  widening  circle  will  not  be  hin- 
dered, and  its  freedom  will  be  all  the  larger  and 
finer  because  the  danger  is  known  and  guarded 
against.  Out  of  the  circle  of  friends  and  com- 
panions of  youth,  in  most  cases,  young  men  will 
finally  select  their  wives  and  seek  to  win  them. 
Courtship  therefore  belongs  to  the  period  in  which 
the  fortunes  of  marriage  and  the  family  are  in  a 
great  degree  decided. 

3.  The  dignity  of  courtship. — Courtship  is  a 
recognition  of  the  freedom  and  personal  rights  of 
woman;  for  where  marriage  is  decided  by  force, 
or  where  the  wife  is  bought  from  the  parents 
like  a  cow,  or  where  she  is  compelled  to  marry  to 
secure  a  fortune  from  a  rich  fool,  there  her 
personality  is  not  respected.  Compulsory  mar- 
riage is  a  mark  of  low  civilization,  and  in  fashion- 
able society  there  is  sometimes  a  return  to 
barbarism.    The  offer  of  a  title  as  purchase  price 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  25 

of  youth  and  wealth  is  on  this  level  of  a  lower 
and  earlier  stage  of  culture.  Our  ancestors  sold 
and  bought  wives  openly  and  without  shame; 
perhaps  we  may  still  observe  what  historians  and 
naturalists  call  survivals.  There  is  a  nobler  way. 
Tennyson  has  painted  for  us  the  fine  picture  of 
King  Arthur  who  at  his  Table  Round  gathered 
the  young  knights  and  made  them  lay  their  hands 
in  his  and  swear — 

To  lead  sweet  lives  in  purest  chastity, 
To  love  one  maiden  only,  cleave  to  her, 
And  worship  her  by  years  of  noble  deeds. 
Until  they  won  her;  for  indeed  I  know 
Of  no  more  subtle  master  under  heaven 
Than  is  a  maiden  passion  for  a  maid. 
Not  only  to  keep  down  the  base  in  man. 
But  teach  high  thought,  and  amiable  words. 
And  courtliness,  and  the  desire  of  fame. 
And  love  of  truth,  and  all  that  makes  a  man. 

Young  persons  of  both  sexes  should  be  taught, 
for  they  will  not  otherwise  duly  think  of  it,  that 
the  conscious  effort  of  a  young  man  to  win  a 
young  woman  in  courtship  is  a  step  toward 
marriage,  the  union  of  one  man  to  one  woman  for 
life,  with  a  prospect  of  rearing  children.  Many 
a  merry  hour  may  properly  be  passed  in  the  genial 
society  of  others  without  any  purpose  of  mar- 
riage; but  courtship,  if  it  is  honest,  upright.  Chris- 
tian, is  a  series  of  acts  intended  to  end  in  the 


26  Social  Duties 

establishment  of  a  family.  If  it  is  not  that,  it  is 
false,  cruel,  selfish,  and  must  end  in  sorrow  of 
some  degree  and  kind,  perhaps  in  tragedy. 

4.  Errors  and  sins  of  courtship. — In  the  light 
of  the  facts  and  of  the  ideal  of  courtship,  one  can 
judge  certain  kinds  of  conduct  which  are  only 
too  common,  although  they  are  not  always 
adopted  with  a  deliberate  purpose  to  injure  or 
deceive.  "Flirting"  is  a  too  familiar  mode  of 
attracting  attention  and  winning  love,  perhaps 
only  to  cast  it  aside.  The  cruelty  of  insincere 
encouragement  to  declarations  of  love,  whether 
by  man  or  woman,  is  unspeakable.  Why  should 
a  sacred  tree  be  planted  and  made  to  grow  until 
its  form  is  necessary  to  the  mind  and  its  roots  are 
deep  in  the  earth,  only  to  pluck  it  up,  bleeding 
away  its  life,  and  leave  it  to  perish?  Is  there 
anything  honorable  in  the  boast  of  "conquests"? 

"Falling  in  love"  is  sometimes  praised  as  a 
virtue,  and  often  considered  natural  and  harm- 
less. And  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  mutual 
admiration  by  which  two  young  persons  are  some- 
times at  their  first  meeting  suddenly  and  strongly 
attracted  to  one  another  may  be  the  beginning  of 
a  pure  and  permanent  love.  But  such  attraction 
must  be  something  more  than  a  passing  fancy 
and  have  some  better  basis  than  physical  attract- 
iveness or  sensual  passion.     For  "love"  that  is 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  27 

worthy  of  the  name  is  not  a  sudden  flame  of 
sense,  but  an  unselfish  principle  of  devotion,  a 
serious  act  of  consecration.  It  is  a  pity  that  the 
sacred  word  which  we  use  as  a  synonym  of  relig- 
ious union  with  God  should  frequently  be  em- 
ployed to  designate  the  acts  of  vice  or  the 
impetuous  outburst  of  animal  appetite.  This 
confusion  of  language  tends  to  confuse  thought 
and  conduct  to  blind,  impulsive  action. 

True,  rational  Christian  love  in  married  persons 
includes  a  solemn  purpose  to  perform  the  duties 
of  marriage,  and  to  endure  its  trials  in  view  of  the 
importance  of  marriage  to  society.  A  proverb 
condenses  in  a  brief  phrase  the  wisdom  of  ages : 
"Marry  in  haste  and  you  will  repent  at  leisure." 

Extravagance  during  the  time  of  courtship  may 
be  checked  by  sensible  girls.  It  may  not  be  wise 
for  a  young  man  to  seek  the  companionship  of  a 
woman  whose  demands  upon  his  purse  are  more 
than  he  can  honestly  meet.  Not  seldom  are  moral 
lapses  in  business  due  to  the  temptation  of  young 
men  intrusted  with  money  to  use  what  does  not 
belong  to  them  in  purchasing  flowers,  paying  for 
carriage  hire,  and  other  expenses,  while  in  pursuit 
of  a  wife.  Without  attempting  to  answer  them, 
we  may  start  these  inquiries:  Why  should  a  girl 
accept  costly  presents  from  one  who  is  not  her 
husband?    Is  it  not  questionable  taste?    Is  it  not 


28  Social  Duties 

something  akin  to  begging?  Does  a  wise  woman 
like  to  think  that  she  is  being  hired  with  money 
to  give  her  love? 

How  young  people  should  conduct  themselves 
during  the  period  of  courtship,  after  the  promise 
of  marriage,  is  a  problem  to  which  too  little  care- 
ful thought  has  been  given.  It  ought  to  be 
seriously  considered  by  parents,  teachers,  and 
young  people  who  value  purity,  unspotted  reputa- 
tion, and  religious  obligation.  Engaged  persons 
have  made  a  serious  vow,  and  ordinarily  they 
should  hold  themselves  to  keep  it  unless  there  is 
strong  reason  for  breaking  off  the  relation.  But 
engagement  is  not  actual  marriage,  in  reality, 
morals,  or  law.  Not  involving  the  duties  of 
marriage,  it  cannot  give  the  rights  of  marriage. 
In  some  countries  engagement  is  often  regarded 
as  equivalent  to  marriage,  especially  among 
workingmen  in  crowded  tenements ;  and  this  leads 
to  many  scandals  and  liberties,  from  which  the 
woman  suffers  most  of  the  evil  without  having 
legal  protection.  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  Puritan 
leader  of  New  England,  found  it  necessary  to 
protest  against  the  too  great  familiarities  of 
young  people  common  in  his  day,  when  sin  was 
committed  under  the  promise  of  marriage. 

In  all  literature  there  is  not  a  more  beautiful 
and  pure  speech  of  a  wise  father  to  a  prospective 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  29 

son-in-law  than  that  in  Shakespeare's  Tempest 
where  Prospero  addresses  the  lover  of  his  own 
daughter,  the  beautiful  Miranda : 

For  I 

Have  given  you  here  a  thread  of  mine  own  life, 

Or  that  for  which  I  live 

Then,  as  my  gift,  and  thine  own  acquisition 
Worthily  purchased,  take  my  daughter;   but 
If  thou  dost  break  her  virgin  knot  before 
All  sanctimonious  ceremonies  may 
With   full  and  holy  rite  be  ministered. 
No  sweet  aspersion  shall  the  heavens  let  fall 
To  make  this  contract  grow;  but  barren  hate, 

Sour-eyed  disdain,   and   discord 

Therefore,  take  heed 
As  Hymen's  lamps  shall  light  you. 
Look,  thou  be  true,  do  not  give  dalliance 
Too  much  the  rein ;  the  strongest  oaths  are  straw 
To  the  fire  in  the  blood ;  be  more  abstemious. 
Or  else,  good  night,  your  vow ! 

Modesty  and  dignity  do  not  dampen  strong 
affection,  but  make  the  light  burn  brighter  into 
old  age. 

5.  The  value  of  courtship. — The  period  of 
courtship  is  an  opportunity  for  discrimination, 
selection,  reason.  Hence  it  should  not  begin  too 
early  in  life.  Sometimes  a  temporary  time  of 
separation,  for  reflection  and  comparison,  with 
change  of  scene,  may  help  the  young  people  to 
make  the  lifetime  decision  with  greater  wisdom. 


30  Social  Duties 

The  conclusion  of  this  period  is  but  a  new  begin- 
ning. "Love"  has  ilkisions ;  for  it  ideahzes  its 
object;  it  transforms  the  shallow,  pretty  girl  into 
a  creature  of  majesty  and  character;  it  causes 
the  mean  scamp  to  loom  up  in  the  brilliant  fancy 
of  a  girl  in  a  mist  magnified  a  thousand  diameters 
of  moral  greatness.  In  the  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream  the  great  dramatist  has  pictured  a  queen, 
under  the  spell  of  a  magic  potion,  admiring  a 
donkey  and  praising  its  long  ears — a  satirical  hint 
of  the  deception  which  young  people  sometimes 
practice  on  themselves.  The  lover,  "of  imagina- 
tion all  compact,"  "sees  Helen's  beauty  in  a  brow 
of  Egypt;"  the  black  Moor  seems  white  to  Desde- 
mona. 

Courtship  is  made  all  the  more  frivolous  by  the 
current  mode  of  speaking  and  thinking  of  divorce. 
If  marriage  can  be  lightly  dissolved,  then  a  mis- 
take in  selecting  a  wife  or  accepting  a  husband, 
it  is  imagined,  will  not  prove  very  serious.  But 
a  courtship  which  does  not  mean  fidelity  for  life 
is  like  a  rose  with  a  worm  eating  out  its  heart, 
like  a  tree  growing  in  scant  soil.  The  very  idea 
of  divorce,  covert  under  all  the  outward  protesta- 
tions of  undying  devotion,  not  only  endangers  the 
stability  of  marriage,  but  degrades  courtship  itself 
and  turns  the  solemn  vows  of  lovers  into  a  heart- 
less hypocrisy.    A  tacit  lie  lurks  in  every  word  of 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  31 

affection,  and  robs  the  happiest  and  sweetest  mo- 
ment of  all  the  fresh  bloom  of  sentiment.  The 
very  phrase  "trial  marriages,"  recently  made 
popular,  is  rank  poison.  Marriages  of  criminals 
are  all  "trial  marriages,"  as  those  of  brutes  and 
savages  are.  Even  a  hint  of  descending  to  those 
nether  regions  for  a  rule  of  life  is  a  disgrace  and 
a  degradation. 

In  the  stage  of  courtship  wise  and  good  young 
women  have  great  educational  power.  Let  us 
have  one  generation  of  young  women  sensible  and 
self-possessed  enough,  to  think  and  to  reject  from 
all  friendly  companionship  young  men  who  are 
intemperate,  unclean,  guilty  of  "sowing  wild 
oats,"  profane,  coarse;  and  the  next  generation, 
if  not  so  numerous,  would  reflect  more  luster  on 
the  republic.  The  woman  who  marries  a  man  to 
reform  him  has  taken  a  viper  to  warm  at  her 
heart.  The  son  of  a  millionaire  is  likely  to 
imagine  that  he  need  not  be  virtuous  because  he 
can  gain  the  hand  of  a  good  woman  on  account 
of  his  riches.  The  divorce  courts  are  witnesses 
of  tragedies  arising  from  such  blunders  on  both 
sides.  Alimony  is  a  poor  substitute  for  the  happi- 
ness of  a  rational  marriage. 

6.  Preparation  needed  for  marriage. — Honest 
courtship,  the  offer  and  acceptance  of  a  friendship 
which  means  marriage,  should  lead  young  persons 


32  Social  Duties 

to  prepare  for  marriage.  For  the  young  woman 
this  means  in  addition  to  the  modesty,  purity,  and 
chastity  which  every  wise  mother  teaches  her 
daughter  and  casts  about  her  as  an  angehc  mantle 
of  protection,  an  acquisition  of  the  knowledge  and 
training  of  a  home-maker.  This  part  of  the 
preparation  includes  all  possible  general  culture 
which  makes  a  woman  capable  of  sympathizing 
through  a  long  life  with  the  broad  industrial, 
economic,  and  political  interests  of  a  man;  it  in- 
cludes all  possible  acquaintance  with  literature  and 
art  which  may  give  rational,  worthy,  and  inspir- 
ing diversion  and  recreation  to  minds  worried  and 
wearied  with  monotonous  grind  and  rasping  con- 
tacts ;  it  means  the  power  to  keep  a  house  whole- 
some, clean,  tidy  with  a  touch  of  beauty,  and  not 
exceed  the  income  of  the  man;  it  includes  the 
knowledge  and  the  training  which  are  necessary 
to  feed  and  care  for  the  infant  and  young  child, 
the  normal  issue  of  a  marriage  formed  for  social 
ends.  If  all  this  can  be  learned,  in  theory  and 
practice,  at  home,  it  may  be  well ;  but  ordinarily 
the  help  of  schools,  classes,  and  expert  instruction 
will  be  required  in  order  to  secure  the  best  results. 
The  preparation  of  a  young  man  for  marriage 
must  be  of  body,  mind,  spirit.  He  must  be  pre- 
pared to  earn  an  income  sufficient  to  support  a 
wife  and  children.     Personally  he  should  be  free, 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  33 

and  should  furnish  reasonable  proof  from  the 
family  physician,  to  the  father  of  his  fiancee,  or, 
if  the  father  is  dead,  to  her  mother,  that  he  is 
free  from  all  forms  of  communicable  disease. 
Some  day  this  may  be  demanded  by  law,  when 
the  general  public  becomes  aware  of  the  frightful 
ravages  of  venereal  and  other  contagious  and 
hereditary  diseases,  and  acquires  the  moral  cour- 
age to  apply  an  effective  legal  remedy.  But  until 
that  law  comes,  and  as  one  means  of  hastening 
its  coming,  every  upright  and  sensible  man  will 
use  his  best  effort  to  enforce  such  a  requirement 
by  every  means  of  instruction,  persuasion,  and 
influence. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  are  the  customs  of  courtship  in  the  locality 
and  community?     What  is  faulty  in  them? 

2.  Has  the  church  any  rule  of  discipline  on  the 
subject? 

3.  Does  the  law  of  the  state  offer  any  regulation  of 
the  social  relations  of  the  sexes  previous  to  marriage? 
What  immoral  acts  are  forbidden  by  law,  under 
penalties? 

4.  Can  anything  be  done  by  the  class  to  produce  a 
purer,  more  sober,  and  rational  custom  in  the  neighbor- 
hood?    How  can  rakes  be  frowned  out  of  decent  society? 

5.  Would   a    fashion   of   "chaperonage"   be   advisable? 

6.  What  aspects  of  the  problem,  not  touched  in  the 
lesson  text,  are  worthy  of  consideration?  What  impor- 
tant facts  are  omitted?  Send  notice  of  serious  omissions 
to  the  writer  of  these  lessons. 


34  Social  Duties 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

Information  which  should  be  given  to  young  persons 
in  regard  to  the  anatomy,  physiology,  dangers,  diseases, 
hygiene,   and  duties   relating  to   sex. 

G.  S.  Hall,  Adolescence,  Vol.  I,  pp.  463-71.  President 
Hall  complains  that  nearly  all  the  books  published  hith- 
erto are  too  long  and  contain  too  many  suggestive, 
exciting,  and  morbid  details.  He  has  published  (D. 
Appleton  &  Co.)   a  smaller  work  entitled   Youth. 

Charles  Wagner,   Youth   (La  jeuncsse). 

As  this  is  the  period  when  the  care  of  health  and 
strength  becomes  the  duty  and  the  charge  of  youth,  the 
school  studies  of  physiology  and  hygiene  may  be  con- 
tinued by  reading  substantial  books,  as : 

Martin,   The  Human  Body,  or 

Harrington,  Practical  Hygiene. 

For  young  men:  Winfield  S.  Hall,  The  Biology, 
Physiology   and   Sociology   of  Reproduction. 

Publications  of  the  Chicago  Society  of  Social  Hygiene, 
and  of  the  New  York  Society  of  Moral  Prophylaxis. 

C.  R.  Henderson,  Yearbook  of  National  Society  for 
the  Scientific  Study  of  Education,  1909  ("Education  with 
Reference  to  Sex")  ;   for  teachers  and  parents. 

II.       MARRIAGE   AND   DIVORCE 

I,  Presuppositions  of  this  discussion. — It  is 
taken  for  granted  throughout  these  studies  that 
the  student  is  making  himself  famihar  with  the 
teaching  of  the  Bible  on  each  topic  and  giving 
them  reverent  heed.  On  the  subject  of  marriage 
and  the  family  we  have  conflicting  pictures  and 
customs;  the  polygamic  family  of  the  patriarch 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  35 

Abraham,  the  permission  of  divorce  in  the  laws 
of  the  Hebrews,  the  apparent  prohibition  of  di- 
vorce by  Jesus,  the  criticism  of  Paul  that  marriage 
is  a  kind  of  inferior  moral  state  over  against  his 
almost  sacramental  view  of  the  institution  as  a 
symbol  of  spiritual  union  with  God.  We  are  not 
attempting  here  to  make  a  biblical  study, ^  but 
rather  to  look  straight  at  marriage  as  a  present- 
day  social  fact,  and  to  discover  what  conduct  is 
required  in  view  of  the  entire  situation.  After 
directing  attention  to  a  few  of  many  important 
considerations  the  class  will  be  asked  to  think  of 
others  and  endeavor  to  weigh  them. 

2.  Definition  of  marriage. — Marriage  in  our 
time  and  land  is  the  voluntary  union  of  one  man 
and  one  woman  for  life-companionship.  It  is 
assumed  that  both  parties  are  old  enough  to 
understand  their  act ;  that  there  is  no  compulsion 
of  either;  that  they  are  physically  and  mentally 
fit  for  marriage.  These  conditions  do  not  always 
exist,  but  they  are  regarded  in  our  country  as 
necessary  to  a  right  marriage.  That  which  public 
opinion  generally  approves  as  best  has  been  in 

*  Good  helps  in  this  field  are  afforded,  and  references  sup- 
plied, by  the  reverent  and  earnest  book,  Social  Significance  of 
the  Teachings  of  Jesus,  by  Jeremiah  W.  Jenks,  1907.  On  this 
special  subject  of  the  biblical  teaching  on  marriage  and 
divorce,  see  the  article  of  Professor  E.  D.  Burton  in  the 
Biblical  World,  February  and  March,   1907. 


36  Social  Duties 

varying  degree  expressed  in  the  laws  of  states  and 
the  interpretations  of  courts. 

The  legal  definition  of  marriage  is  based  on 
the  social  belief  that  certain  actions,  habits,  and 
customs  are  necessary  for  the  common  welfare, 
and  the  definition  already  given  to  describe  the 
customary  thought  is  substantially  that  which  we 
find  in  laws.  Marriage  legally  begins  with  a 
voluntary  act  of  both  parties  to  the  contract;  but 
after  that  act  the  union  cannot  legally  be  dis- 
solved without  the  permission  of  the  proper 
judicial  authorities.  The  lawyers  say  that  mar- 
riage begins  with  a  free  act,  but  that  it  becomes  a 
"status."  The  social  reasons  for  this  will  appear. 
From  most  contracts  the  parties  may  be  freed 
simply  by  mutual  consent,  and  ordinary  business 
partnerships  may  be  dissolved  by  agreement  in 
private  and  without  notice  to  others.  But  mar- 
riage is  a  legal  contract  like  no  other.  There  are 
a  few  eccentric  persons  who  declare  that  marriage 
ought  to  end  at  any  time  when  both  members  of 
the  union  agree  to  have  the  relation  end ;  and  their 
reasoning  is  specious.  We  can  answer  them  best 
by  showing  what  are  the  consequences  of  mar- 
riage— how  far-reaching,  enduring  and  profound  ; 
that  these  consequences  are  not  merely  personal 
and  private,  but  also  social  and  affect  the  entire 
community  in  all  its  interests. 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  37 

3.  Effects  of  marriage — economic. — What  are 
some  of  the  effects  of  the  marriage  union?  First 
of  all  there  is  at  once  a  mutual  interest  in  the 
work  and  business  which  are  to  furnish  support 
for  the  family  formed  in  marriage.  The  labor 
or  business  activity  of  a  man  has  for  its  purpose, 
not  merely  his  own  support,  but  that  of  his  wife 
and  children.  "Self-support"  includes  mainte- 
nance of  wife,  children,  and  the  aged  or  infirm. 
Leaving  out  of  account  a  comparatively  few  per- 
sons who  have  inherited  estates  and  can  live 
without  work,  the  vast  majority  of  men  must 
receive  for  the  service  they  render  to  society  re- 
turn enough  to  maintain  one,  two,  or  more  other 
persons.  When  the  employer  pays  a  workman,  he 
must  on  the  average  include  enough  to  support 
parents  and  young  children.  When  a  farmer 
tills  the  soil,  he  wins  a  product  for  the  support  of 
the  entire  family.  If  wife  and  children  help  in 
the  labor,  the  reward  must  go  to  a  common  fund 
in  which  all  share  according  to  their  needs. 
Property  in  lands,  machinery,  merchandise,  rail- 
roads, and  all  else  is  essentially  family  property. 
When  a  man  dies,  he  usually  gives  his  accumu- 
lated wealth  in  parts  to  his  widow  and  children 
and  nearest  family  relatives.  All  the  results  of 
savings,  effort,  thrift,  and  commerce  flow  to  the 
family. 


38  Social  Duties 

An  important  modification  of  this  statement 
must  be  made  in  respect  to  those  great  fortunes 
which  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  very  few  fortunate 
masters  of  industry  and  commerce,  and  which 
are  not  in  any  proper  sense  earned  by  the  owners, 
but  which  are  built  up  largely  by  the  services  and 
sacrifices  of  all  industrious  members  of  a  com- 
munity. In  such  cases,  even  when  the  acquisition 
has  not  been  promoted  by  fraud  and  oppression, 
the  duty  to  share  the  wealth  with  the  entire  com- 
munity, and  not  to  leave  it  all  to  the  family  who 
have  done  nothing  to  earn  it,  has  come  to  be 
recognized  in  large  gifts  and  legacies  to  public 
uses,  in  inheritance  taxes,  and  in  the  moral  de- 
mands of  enlightened  teachers  of  morality.  But 
even  in  these  exceptional  cases  all  admit  that  the 
family  has  the  first  claim. 

Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  has  clearly  and  explicitly 
taught  the  world,  by  books  and  by  action,  that 
accumulated  wealth,  after  the  family  is  reason- 
ably provided  for,  is  morally,  if  not  legally,  public 
property  and  should  be  redistributed  as  com- 
munity wealth.  The  amazing  gifts  of  other  own- 
ers of  colossal  fortunes  are  sometimes  accom- 
panied by  a  modest  and  high-minded  confession 
that  the  gift  was  a  recognition  of  the  common 
ownership  of  exceptional  wealth  and  of  the  stew- 
ardship of  all  possessions.     This  does  not  imply 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  39 

a  confession  that   fraud  or  other  conscious  in- 
justice was  a  part  factor  in  the  acquisition. 

4.  Effects  of  marriage  on  health. — Usually  the 
health  of  the  members  of  the  little  community  de- 
pends on  the  conduct  of  that  circle.  The  prepara- 
tion of  food,  the  proper  care  of  the  household, 
the  condition  of  the  place  of  rest,  the  recreations, 
the  social  atmosphere  of  the  residence,  are  factors 
bearing  on  vitality  and  industrial  efficiency.  The 
health  or  sickness  of  a  child  is  a  factor  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  commonwealth  and  nation,  as  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  has  wisely  and  strongly  insisted. 
When  parents  act  in  a  way  to  jeopardize  the 
physical  well-being  of  each  other  or  their  off- 
spring, the  national  life  bleeds  from  one  of  its 
arteries. 

5.  Sociable  needs. — The  satisfactions  of  the 
desire  for  companionship  are  in  great  measure 
dependent  on  the  home.  Husband  and  wife  are 
companions  on  most  intimate  terms  and  with  a 
great  variety  of  undivided  interests.  Suspicion 
and  distrust  can  be  endured  between  persons  who 
live  at  a  distance,  but  they  make  purgatory  where 
human  beings  must  occupy  the  same  rooms  and 
eat  daily  at  the  same  table.  One  can  let  the  neigh- 
bor churl  pass  him  with  his  surly  mien  and  hard 
salute  or  averted  eye,  but  in  the  home  even  a  slight 
is  felt  as  a  dagger's  thrust.     The  social  virtues, 


40  Social  Duties 

which  are  so  necessary  to  the  comfort  and  happi- 
ness of  a  community,  are  cultivated,  if  at  all,  in 
the  home. 

In  this  connection  should  be  studied  the  effects 
of  all  kinds  of  limited-marriage  schemes,  every 
one  of  which,  however  cunningly  disguised  under 
specious  phrases,  is  a  return  toward  savage  and 
animal  unions.  Among  animals,  and  even  among 
some  of  the  lower  races  of  men,  with  their  fre- 
quent marital  changes,  physical  modesty  is 
rudimentary  or  unknown.  Modesty  has  been 
developed  as  a  protection  to  chastity,  purity,  and 
health.  The  tendency  of  frequent  and  easy  di- 
vorce, or  even  of  indulgence  of  a  thought  of  the 
possibility  of  divorce  and  remarriage  while  a 
spouse  is  living,  is  to  brutalize  both  man  and 
woman.  Monogamous  marriage  tends,  if  per- 
manent, to  cultivate  and  refine  that  modesty  which 
stands  with  flaming  sword  to  guard  the  paradise 
of  chastity.  Mrs.  Browning's  expression  is  none 
too  strong,  that  "God  is  sad  in  heaven"  when  he 
sees  how  "all  our  towns  make  offal"  of  our 
daughters.  Prostitution,  which  is  a  return  in 
extreme  form  to  the  casual  sexual  relations  of 
brutes,  causes  not  only  the  spread  of  loathsome 
physical  disease  among  guilty  and  innocent  alike, 
even  to  the  third  generation,  but  it  transforms  the 
guilty  into  cynical  skeptics  in  regard  to  the  very 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  41 

possibility  of  clean  living.  What  must  be  the 
insidious  paralysis  of  the  finest  feelings  of  man- 
hood and  womanhood  to  meet  in  street  and 
assembly  a  number  of  previous  consorts  still 
living ! 

6.  Birth  of  children. — Normally  and  naturally 
the  consequence  of  marriage  is  the  birth  of  chil- 
dren. It  is  this  which  seems  to  historical  students 
to  have  first  created  the  family,^  and  family  life 
is  always  incomplete  without  children.  Children 
are  for  a  long  time  dependent  on  adults  for 
physical  care  and  support,  and  for  education. 
Who  are  required  by  the  facts  of  life  to  provide 
this  maintenance  and  fitness  for  existence?  The 
central  and  decisive  fact  here  is  that  both  father 
and  mother,  having  entered  marriage  by  free 
contract,  and  having  agreed  to  perform  the  duties 
of  that  relation,  are  the  sole  persons  responsible 

'  Numerous  studies  of  domestic  groups  of  primitive  races 
of  men  seem  to  indicate  that  the  earliest  permanent  groups 
were  of  mother  and  child,  the  father  having  little  to  do  with 
them  after  the  child  is  born.  But  the  very  helplessness  of 
infant  and  often  of  mother  gradually  compacted  and  cemented 
the  union.  A  temporary  sexual  union  is  not  a  family  in  any 
true  sense,  and  hence  it  seems  none  too  much  to  say  that 
"the  child  created  the  family."  It  is  interesting  to  note,  as 
a  result  of  recent  statistical  studies  of  vast  numbers  of 
families,  that  those  marriages  which  produce  children  tend 
to  be  more  permanent  than  childless  marriages,  (See  Henry 
Drummond,  The  Ascent  of  Man.) 


42  Social  Duties 

for  the  entrance  of  the  child  into  Hfe.  It  is  in 
accordance  with  this  fact  that  our  civihzation,  by 
custom,  sentiment,  and  law,  requires  both  father 
and  mother  to  carry  this  burden. 

What  would  be  the  consequence  of  permitting 
parents  to  desert  their  children  and  cast  the  bur- 
den of  support  on  others?  The  first  result  would 
be  that  infant  mortality  would  be  frightfully 
increased ;  for  we  already  have  enough  such  cases 
to  teach  us  that  a  mother  who  abandons  her  babe 
or  refuses  to  give  it  nature's  food,  greatly  in- 
creases its  chance  of  death,  no  matter  what  may 
be  done  by  others.  The  effect  on  mother  and 
father  of  desertion  of  children  is  disastrous  both 
to  physical  health  and  to  character.  Parents  need 
the  children  for  their  own  sake  as  truly  as  children 
need  parents,  though  not  in  the  same  way.  Na- 
ture has  provided  instincts  of  affection  in  adults 
so  that,  when  a  babe  is  born,  these  affections 
begin  to  develop  in  all  normal  and  healthy  per- 
sons. Unless  impeded  by  false  and  artificial 
conditions,  ideas,  and  customs,  parental  love 
grows  with  the  child  and  provides  for  it  without 
legal  pressure.  The  conduct  and  character  of 
parents  are  the  earliest  and  most  essential  factors 
of  the  education  of  the  child.  This  point  requires 
special  discussion  at  another  time;  its  importance 
cannot  be  over-estimated.     Children  are  imitative 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  43 

and  their  affection  and  respect  induce  them  first 
of  all  to  imitate  their  own  parents. 

The  support  and  education  of  children  by  the 
family  is  a  public  and  not  a  merely  private  con- 
cern. If  the  little  ones  are  left  by  parents  to 
starve,  then  the  country  loses  its  laborers  and 
citizens;  and  if  they  are  fed  at  public  expense, 
then  some  persons  must  carry  an  unjust  part  of 
the  burden.  The  expenses  of  the  public  for  char- 
ity are  already  enormous,  and  much  of  this  is 
due  to  neglect  of  children  by  unfit  parents.  If 
the  children  grow  up  ignorant,  dishonest,  thievish, 
feeble,  lying,  unclean,  diseased,  obscene,  profane, 
they  are  pests  in  the  community.  While  the 
family  has  a  private  life  of  its  own,  the  whole 
community  has  an  interest  in  its  permanence,  its 
purity,  and  its  morality,  and  must  insist  that  the 
family  perform  its  task  faithfully. 

7.  Social  action  to  defend  social  welfare. — 
Since  personal  advice  is  inadequate  here,  the 
community  is  compelled  to  find  a  method  of  social 
action  which  will  protect  the  public  interest. 
Public  teaching,  church  discipline,  social  criticism, 
newspaper  publicity,  are  among  the  ways  in  which 
society  secures  obedience  to  its  requirement  that 
parents  must  maintain  and  properly  educate  their 
own  offspring.  But  where  such  means  fail,  more 
severe  and   forceful  measures  are  adopted.     In 


44  Social  Duties 

some  states  the  parents  are  made  to  appear  before 
the  judge  of  the  juvenile  court,  if  they  have  by 
negHgence  contributed  to  tlie  misery  or  immor- 
ahty  of  a  child,  and  they  are  punished  if  they 
refuse  to  perform  their  duty  to  the  utmost  limit 
of  their  ability.  If  through  ill-health  and  poverty 
they  cannot  provide  for  the  physical  and  moral 
needs  of  the  children,  private  and  public  charity 
are  called  upon  to  assist. 

Divorce  laws  rest  upon  this  fact,  that  the  con- 
duct of  married  persons,  especially  where  children 
are  involved,  is  a  public  and  not  a  merely  private 
concern.  If  a  man  could  desert  his  wife  at  any 
moment  he  pleased,  the  result  would  frequently 
be  cruelty  to  the  woman.  She  might  be  aban- 
doned at  the  hour  when  she  became  burdened  with 
the  care  of  a  child  of  which  the  deserting  husband 
is  father.  This  would  mean  either  that  an  exces- 
sive load  would  be  cast  upon  her  in  a  time  of  help- 
lessness, or  that  neighbors  should  work  to  support 
one  who  ought  to  have  been  cared  for  by  her 
husband. 

As  marriage  has  consequences  of  public  inter- 
est, and  ill-advised  marriage  carries  with  it  results 
of  the  greatest  injury  to  the  community,  it  is  the 
right  and  duty  of  the  community  to  surround  it 
with  all  necessary  safeguards  to  prevent  such 
marriages  and  to  secure  that  only  they  marry  who 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  45 

are  fitted  to  enter  into  this  relation.  "Easy  mar- 
riage," for  which  many  clamor,  is  the  fruitful 
source  of  endless  evils.  Among  the  safeguards 
against  unwise  marriage  none  perhaps  is  more 
effective  or  salutary  than  publicity,  through  the 
requirement  that  no  marriage  shall  be  entered 
into  without  due  public  notice.  This  notice  has 
in  some  lands  and  times  been  given  by  announce- 
ments in  the  church  for  several  weeks  before  the 
wedding  ceremony,  by  publication  in  print,  by 
registration  in  a  public  office.  Secret  marriages 
frequently  end  in  misery  and  shame.  Designing 
and  unscrupulous  men  often  induce  ignorant  and 
foolish  girls  to  marry  them,  only  to  find  that  the 
men  have  already  been  married  several  times  and 
have  deserted  their  wives  in  the  hour  of  extreme 
need.  An  immoral  young  man  will  sometimes 
persuade  a  girl  to  elope  with  him  secretly,  because 
he  knows  that,  if  the  event  were  public,  his  true 
character  would  be  exposed  and  the  woman  would 
refuse  him.  This  publication  should  be  given 
some  weeks  before  the  wedding,  in  order  to  give 
time  for  all  necessary  inquiries  and  for  suitable 
reflection.  The  consequences  of  marriage  are 
so  serious  and  complex  that  it  should  be  preceded 
by  full  knowledge  and  abundant  time  for  con- 
sideration. 

Much  can  be  said  for  the  plan  of  having  the 


46  Social  Duties 

same  county  officer  act  as  the  authority  to  issue 
licenses,  for  performing  tlie  act  of  legal  recogni- 
tion, and  for  registration  of  the  marriage.  At 
present  many  marriages  are  performed  in  secret, 
without  previous  publicity,  and  ministers  often 
forget  or  neglect  to  have  the  celebration  registered 
afterward.  A  civil  marriage  should  be  the  only 
legal  essential  in  forming  the  union,  but  parties 
would  still  be  free  to  have  a  more  solemn  celebra- 
tion at  home  or  in  church,  with  all  the  ceremonies 
and  sacred  associations  which  are  customary  and 
hallowed. 

In  this  view  a  minister  would  not  have  any  of 
the  rights  or  obligations  of  a  civil  officer;  and  in 
a  country  where  church  and  state  are  separate, 
as  with  us,  this  seems  logical  and  proper.  A 
minister  frequently  feels  obliged  to  refuse  to 
solemnize  a  marriage  even  when  the  parties  come 
to  him  with  the  license  of  the  state,  on  the  ground 
that  one  of  them  has  been  improperly  divorced. 
But,  if  he  is  a  state  officer,  it  does  not  seem  proper 
for  him  thus  to  refuse  to  honor  the  document 
issued  by  the  state ;  he  seems  to  reflect  upon  that 
same  law-making  power  under  which  he  accepts 
a  public  office. 

8.  Attitude  of  the  church  to  divorce. — The 
church  is  not  obliged  to  accept  the  divorce  pro- 
nounced  by  the  courts  of  a  state  as  final   and 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  47 

satisfactory.  For  example,  a  divorced  man  who 
has  married  while  the  first  wife  lives  may  ask  for 
membership  in  a  church  on  the  ground  that  he  has 
been  legally  divorced  from  this  former  wife.  But 
many  things  are  legal  which  are  not  moral,  much 
less  on  a  level  with  the  morality  required  for 
membership  in  a  church.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
church  cannot  insist  that  its  rule  should  be  made 
the  law  of  the  commonwealth.  It  may  be  that 
divorce  is  civilly  desirable,  "for  the  hardness  of 
their  hearts,"  to  prevent  worse  evils,  while  not 
moral  according  to  the  standards  of  conduct  set 
up  for  themselves  by  religious  men.  The  law 
permits  and  countenances  many  acts  which  a  per- 
son of  high  honor  will  not  permit  himself,  nor 
countenance  in  his  familiar  associates. 

Some  legal  provision  must  evidently  be  made 
for  the  protection  of  married  persons  to  whom 
the  marriage  itself  was  a  wrong.  Thus  the  law 
very  properly  annuls  the  marriage  of  a  young 
child  who  is  in  development  of  body  and  mind 
utterly  unfit.  The  law  rightly  releases  a  woman 
from  the  legal  control  of  a  man  who  gained  her 
consent  to  marriage  by  base  and  brutal  conceal- 
ment of  some  physical  imperfection  or  loathsome 
disease.  Probably  it  would  have  been  still  better 
to  provide  legal  methods  of  preventing  such  mar- 
riages in  the  beginning;  but  annulment  of  the 


48  Social  Duties 

marriage  is  under  such  conditions  a  partial  rem- 
edy. An  innocent  woman  ought  to  have  the  help 
of  a  court  to  release  her  from  any  legal  control 
of  a  man  who  after  marriage  becomes  cruel  and 
dangerous  through  low  vice  and  inveterate  habits 
of  drunkenness  or  use  of  drugs.  It  is  sometimes 
the  duty  of  a  woman,  especially  when  the  life, 
health,  and  morals  of  her  children  are  at  stake, 
to  make  use  of  the  legal  protection  offered  by  the 
courts. 

After  all  this  has  been  said,  many  personal 
problems  will  remain  for  which  no  law  can  be 
framed.  If  a  woman  should  secure  protection 
from  a  vicious  husband  by  a  divorce,  should  she, 
as  a  Christian  woman,  regard  herself  at  liberty 
to  marry  again?  Or  should  she  endure  her  cross 
and  try  to  save  her  husband  by  long-suffering 
patience?  In  a  similar  situation,  what  is  the  duty 
of  a  man?  There  is  the  story  of  Hosea,  used  as 
a  parable  of  the  amazing  pity  of  God  to  sinners. 
There  are  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  never  intended 
for  enactment  into  law  to  be  enforced  by  penalties. 
We  come  here  upon  one  of  those  questions  which 
cannot  be  answered  in  a  legalistic  temper  by  a  rule 
imposed  from  without.  In  the  spirit  of  Jesus  the 
individual  must  decide  for  himself  and  cast  his 
burden  on  the  Almighty,  praying  for  help  to  know 
and  do  that  which  is  highest  and  most  worthy. 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  49 

9.  The  duty  of  kindness. — In  the  Scriptures 
wives  and  husbands  are  commanded,  and  in  the 
ancient  English  marriage  service  they  promise  to 
"love"  each  the  other.  It  is  sometimes  asserted 
that  no  person  can  honestly  promise  in  advance 
either  to  obey  or  to  love  another  person,  and  their 
argument  is  plausible.  It  is  impossible  to  know 
many  years  in  advance  whether  it  will  be  right 
to  "obey"  a  human  being,  or  whether  affection 
can  be  commanded  at  will  under  circumstances 
yet  unknown.  What  is  possible  and  also  reason- 
able is  that  married  people  can  show  kindness  and 
faithfulness,  can  endure  and  sacrifice;  then  if 
affection  and  respect  are  possible  they  will  arise 
naturally.  We  can  school  ourselves  to  act 
upon  principle,  to  endure  in  silence,  to  put 
forth  our  best  endeavor  to  win  the  heart  and 
purify  the  character  of  child  or  parent  or  spouse, 
even  in  return  for  contempt,  insult,  and  in- 
justice. In  this  sense  we  can  even  learn  to  "love" 
our  enemies,  and  in  multitudes  of  instances  evil 
has  been  overcome  by  goodness,  the  jealous  and 
bitter  soul  has  been  ennobled  and  made  worthy 
of  respect  and  attraction  by  grateful  and  respon- 
sive conduct.  In  this  sense  of  the  Avord  "love," 
it  can  be  commanded  as  a  duty  and  can  be 
promised  in  all  honesty.  Kindness  does  not,  how- 
ever, require  either  child  or  parent  or  spouse  to 


50  Social  Duties 

continue  in  a  legal  status  which  promises  nothing 
but  persistent  meanness  in  the  party  which  is  in 
the  wrong. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  is  the  law  of  marriage  in  your  own  state? 

2.  What  license  is  required,  and  how  is  it  obtained? 

3.  What  record  is  made  of  marriages  in  the  county? 
Have  a  member  of  the  class  ask  the  registering  clerk  of 
the  county  how  many  marriages  are  not  recorded,  and 
how  he  knows.  Ask  him  how  many  ministers  and 
others  officiating  neglect  to  return  certificates  for  record. 

4.  What  persons  and  officials  are  authorized  to  per- 
form the  legal  ceremony? 

5.  What  are  the  advantages  of  a  public  religious  cere- 
mony? 

6.  On  what  grounds  can  a  man  or  woman  obtain  a 
divorce  in  your  state? 

7.  What  reasons  are  given  in  ordinary  society  for  per- 
mitting divorce  on  each  of  these  grounds?  What  do 
you  think  of  these  reasons? 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

G.  E.  Howard,  A  History  of  Matritnoiiial  Institutions, 
especially  Vol.  III. 

Felix  Adler,  Marriage  and  Divorce.  (A  noble  book, 
though,  we  think,  not  quite  fair  to  the  Christian  church 
at  some  points.) 

C.  F.  and  C.  F.  B.  Thwing,  The  Family — a  historical 
and   social  study. 

Report  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Labor  on 
Divorce    Laws,    1889.     The   government    is    now    (1909) 


Duties  Relating  to  the  Family  51 

publishing  a  special  report  on  Marriage  and  Divorce, 
(1867-1906) — an  exceedingly  useful  work. 

See  Bulletin  96,  Bureau  of  the  Census,  1908  on  Mar- 
riage and  Divorce,  1887-1906. 

Reports  of  Dr.  S.  W.  Dike  (Auburndale,  Mass.), 
National  League   for  the    Protection   of   the   Family. 


CHAPTER  III 

SOCIAL    DUTIES    RELATING    TO    MATERIAL 
CONDITIONS    OF   FAMILY    LIFE 

In  the  first  chapter  we  considered  the  objects 
of  social  Hfe  in  general,  and  we  have  seen  that 
human  beings  cannot  advance  in  culture  without 
a  sufficient  supply  of  food,  clothing,  and  other 
goods  necessary  to  maintain  the  body.  We  are 
now  to  take  up  these  material  conditions  of  the 
higher  life  and  discover  how  a  community  ought 
to  act  in  relation  to  these  facts. 

I.       THE   MINIMUM   STANDARD  OF   SOCIAL  DUTY 

There  is  a  very  common  and  traditional  belief 
that  the  income  of  a  family  of  a  workingman 
should  be  measured  by  what  its  bread-winner  can 
earn  in  the  competitive  labor  market.  The  "law 
of  supply  and  demand"  which  actually  fixes 
wages  like  the  price  of  wheat  or  meat,  is  treated 
as  a  part  of  the  moral  law,  the  will  of  God,  or  the 
decision  of  fate,  and  any  attempt  to  seek  any  other 
basis  is  regarded  as  a  foolish  and  futile  struggle 
with  dark  destiny,  or  as  an  impious  attempt  to 
circumvent  Providence.  Stripped  of  all  ornament, 
this  theory  means  that  whatever  is,  is  right.  This 
belief  is  rarely  questioned  among  those  who  are 
successful,  and  the  prosperous  are  inclined  to  seek 

52 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  53 

in  vice  or  idleness  the  only  sources  of  failure  to 
provide  support.  If  a  laborer  cannot  earn  income 
enough  to  give  his  family  decent  means  of  sub- 
sistence, he  is  despised  or  pitied  for  his  weakness, 
or  coldly  rebuked  for  his  incompetence  or  wrong- 
doing. Job  on  his  heap  of  ashes  still  finds  himself 
surrounded  with  "comforters"  who  have  a  ready 
explanation  of  extreme  poverty  in  sin.  If  the 
wages  which  are  actually  paid  as  a  result  of  the 
competition  of  employers  and  employees  with  each 
other  in  the  labor  market  are  the  proper  measure 
of  what  ought  to  be  paid,  then  we  have  no  right 
to  inquire  further  for  social  duty;  the  "going 
rate"  is  the  precise  measure  of  social  duty. 

There  is  another  and  very  different  view  which 
is  gaining  a  hearing  in  the  modern  world :  that 
society  ought  to  discover  the  cost  of  living  a 
reasonable  human  life  in  a  certain  time  and  area, 
and  make  that  cost  the  minimum  standard  of  in- 
come for  a  faithful  and  competent  workman. 
According  to  this  view,  those  who  can  earn  more 
than  this  lowest  measure  would  be  permitted  to 
do  so,  and  all  would  be  encouraged  to  become  as 
efficient  as  possible.  Nor  may  this  idea  of  a  legal 
minimum  standard  of  wages,  foreign  as  it  is  to 
our  customary  thought,  be  rejected  without  ex- 
amination, even  if  we  do  not  see  clearly  as  yet  the 
particular  methods  by  which  the  principle  can  be 


54  Social  Duties 

applied  in  practice.  It  may  be  suggested  even 
now  that  the  traditional  doctrine  is  modified  by 
the  practice  of  poor-relief,  since  each  community 
admits  that  it  is  under  moral  obligation  not  to 
permit  the  means  of  living  to  fall  below  a  defined 
level.  And  even  in  business  many  employers  will 
admit  that  they  must  as  far  as  possible  modify 
the  rate  of  wages  somewhat  by  the  cost  of  living. 
We  shall  see  later  what  this  implies. 

What  elements  must  enter  into  the  minimum 
standard  of  family  support?  It  is  not  difficult  to 
answer  this  part  of  the  question.  In  every  civ- 
ilized country,  in  every  part  of  each  land,  in  town 
and  in  rural  communities,  certain  things  are  neces- 
sary to  the  life  of  moral  beings.  These  things 
may  be  roughly  classified  under  the  heads :  food 
and  drink,  shelter,  clothing,  light  and  fuel,  furni- 
ture and  furnishings,  means  of  transportation 
(car-fares),  provision  for  sickness  and  accidents, 
dental,  surgical,  and  other  care  of  health,  recrea- 
tion, and  incidental  but  unavoidable  expenses.  In 
order  that  these  material  means  may  be  continu- 
ously supplied  even  during  periods  when  the 
bread-winner  cannot  work  and  earn,  as  in  sick- 
ness, unemployment,  and  old  age,  there  must  be 
some  kind  of  a  savings  or  insurance  fund.  Not 
one  of  these  elements  can  be  left  out ;  and,  if  any 
one  is  omitted,  life  ceases,  or  degrading  alms  must 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  55 

eke  out  the  income.  When  some  of  these  factors 
are  wanting  or  inadequately  supplied,  we  discover 
slow  wasting  of  strength,  lowered  vitality  and 
industrial  efficiency,  high  rate  of  mortality  among 
infants,  and  reduction  of  expenditures  for  spirit- 
ual culture.  The  stunted  children  in  such  homes 
are  excluded  from  school  and  shop,  and  turn 
mendicants  or  thieves.  Ultimately  society  pays 
heavily  for  its  denial  of  a  primal  duty,  and  cannot 
escape  its  punishment.  Nature  sends  in  a  bill,  and 
has  its  own  way  of  collecting  interest  and  princi- 
pal. In  the  list  just  given  nothing  is  included  for 
artistic  enjoyments,  for  education,  for  religion, 
for  participation  in  philanthropic  and  political 
activities,  but  only  what  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  supply  animal  wants,  give  strength  for  common 
labor,  and  keep  up  the  reproduction  of  labor  force 
by  supporting  children.  Of  preparation  of  good 
citizens  fit  to  take  part  in  electing  representatives 
in  government,  and  passing  judgment  on  measures 
influenced  by  votes,  no  account  is  taken ;  but  such 
elements  must  be  included,  if  our  republican  in- 
stitutions are  to  continue.  Men  living  on  the 
animal  level  will  inevitably  descend  to  brute  con- 
ditions. 

Can  we  measure  the  cost  of  these  necessary 
means  of  family  life?  This  is  not  an  easy  task, 
but  harder  problems  have  been  solved.     We  must 


56  Social  Duties 

indicate  a  way  of  studying  this  part  of  our  prob- 
lem. Let  the  following  facts  of  the  situation  be 
considered :  The  material  means  of  existence  will 
vary  in  quantity  and  cost  with  the  size  of  family, 
the  price  of  commodities  in  the  community  stud- 
ied, with  the  fluctuations  of  prices  in  different 
years  and  seasons.  General  averages  for  the 
whole  country  are  of  little  value ;  we  must  study 
the  cost  of  living  in  each  community.  With  this 
information  before  us,  we  can  readily  calculate 
the  wages  which  must  be  paid  in  a  particular  com- 
munity to  maintain  existence,  working  capacity, 
children,  and  the  higher  forces  of  civilization. 
Several  attempts  have  been  made,  with  some  suc- 
cess, in  the  cities  of  this  country  to  discover  the 
actual  cost  of  the  items  mentioned  in  the  list 
already  given.  In  this  quest  charity  workers 
among  the  poor  and  visitors  of  churches  have 
rendered  valuable  service.  But  only  trained 
officers  of  the  state,  having  public  authority,  can 
make  these  investigations  thoroughly  and  at  fre- 
quent and  regular  intervals.  The  first  social  duty 
is  then  to  secure  the  establishment  of  boards  hav- 
ing the  legal  right  and  duty  to  furnish  the  com- 
munity with  a  minimum  standard  of  the  cost  of 
living,  which  standard  is  found  by  analysis  of  the 
prices  of  goods  in  the  market  and  the  actual  ex- 
penditures of  many  families  that  are  barely  able 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  57 

to  support  themselves  without  depending  on  poor- 
relief. 

Some  of  the  estimates  made  by  careful  observ- 
ers may  be  cited  as  illustration  of  local  conditions. 
Thus  Dr.  E.  T.  Devine  said : 

Recognizing  the  tentative  character  of  such  an  esti- 
mate, it  may  be  worth  while  to  record  the  opinion  that 
in  New  York  City,  where  rentals  and  provisions  are, 
perhaps,  more  expensive  than  in  any  other  large  city, 
for  an  average  family  of  five  persons  the  minimum 
income  on  which  it  is  practicable  to  remain  self-support- 
ing, and  to  maintain  any  approach  to  a  decent  standard 
of  living,  is  $600  a  year.^ 

Later  he  wrote,  in  view  of  further  investigations : 
''Probably  the  earlier  estimates  of  the  cost  of 
living,  including  that  made  by  the  writer,  are  now 
too  low."^ 

It  must  be  remembered  that,  in  a  rough  way, 
we  already  accept  a  standard  in  practical  life  for 
each  grade  of  workmen  and  in  each  community. 
Thus  in  fixing  the  wages  of  unskilled  laborers  the 
employers  make  a  rough  calculation  of  what  it 
costs  a  workman  to  live,  and  they  feel  that  they 
are  doing  something  base  if  they  offer  less.  Most 
employers  think  they  should  pay  something  more 

^Principles  of  Relief. 

^Charities  and  Commons,  November  17,  1906;  Ryan,  A 
Living  Wage,  chap.  vii.  The  latter  work  is  an  interesting 
analysis  of  the  problem  ;  no  writer  has  yet  solved  it. 


58  Social  Duties 

than  the  bare  cost  of  Hving.  It  is  true  that  girls 
and  women  are  often  paid  less  than  the  cost  of 
their  living,  but  in  such  cases  the  earnings  of  the 
men  are  supposed  to  be  the  main  source  of  income 
for  the  family,  or  charity  may  supplement  wages. 
In  giving  charity  itself  the  visitor  rapidly  makes 
a  guess  at  the  minimum  cost  of  necessities,  and 
seeks  to  discover  the  sources  of  income;  then  re- 
lief is  given  to  make  up  the  deficit.  Experienced 
visitors  acquire  skill  in  making  these  estimates 
even  where  deception  obscures  the  facts. 

II.       SOCIAL  METHODS  OF  MAINTAINING  THE 
MINIMUM  STANDARD 

All  the  methods  to  be  mentioned  have  some- 
where been  tried,  and  are  not  merely  inventions 
or  suggestions  of  the  imagination. 

I.  Society  is  bringing  pressure  to  bear  on  negli- 
gent men  and  women  to  induce  or  compel  them  to 
support  their  families  by  steady  individual  indus- 
try and  faithful  devotion  of  earnings  to  proper 
uses.  Thus  public  opinion  chastises  the  loafer,  the 
shirk,  the  deserter  of  wife  and  children,  the 
vicious,  the  spendthrift,  the  drunkard,  and  the 
vagabond.  If  teaching,  preaching,  ridicule,  per- 
suasion, advice,  and  warning  fail  to  secure  eco- 
nomic and  domestic  virtue,  the  law  inflicts  fines 
and  imprisonment,  with  the  object  of  securing 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  59 

support  from  the  persons  responsible.  These  laws 
are  made  more  and  more  exacting. 

Fortunately  such  extreme  measures  are  neces- 
sary only  for  exceptional  cases;  ordinarily  the 
motives  for  industry  are  sufficient  to  keep  most 
men  at  work  regularly,  at  least  among  races  which 
have  for  generations  been  trained  to  regular  in- 
dustry, and  where  the  desire  for  many  kinds  of 
goods  urges  men  to  work  without  ceasing. 

2.  When  parents,  with  children  to  maintain  and 
educate,  are  disabled  by  sickness,  accident,  old  age, 
unemployment,  or  misfortune,  and  cannot  supply 
the  necessities  of  life  to  dependent  children  and 
the  aged,  society  comes  to  their  aid  with  private 
charity  or  public  relief.  The  poor-law  is  a  recog- 
nition by  the  people  of  a  state  of  the  moral  rule 
that  we  ought  not  to  permit  any  citizen,  no  matter 
what  his  previous  history,  to  perish  from  hunger 
and  cold,  and  that  we  ought  not  to  permit  any 
child  to  grow  up  without  education  on  account 
of  poverty.  Frequently  the  relief  given  is  un- 
wisely administered,  excessive  or  deficient  in 
amount;  but  the  moral  obligation  to  maintain  a 
certain  standard  of  life  for  every  member  of  the 
community  is  distinctly  implied  in  both  public  and 
private  relief.  This  relief  must  ever  remain  ex- 
ceptional ;  it  cannot  become  a  regular  means  of 
support  without  degradation  of  the  working  popu- 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  6i 

III.       SOCIAL    DUTIES    IN    RELATION    TO    SUITABLE 
HABITATIONS 

Residence  in  towns  and  cities  reveals  the  abso- 
lute impossibility  of  meeting-  our  moral  duties  by 
individual  action.  In  the  rural  communities,  on 
the  other  hand,  where  each  family  lives  in  a 
separate  dwelling,  far  removed  from  other  habita- 
tions, the  condition  of  the  home  is  chiefly  de- 
termined by  the  character  and  ideals  and  means 
of  the  family,  without  consideration  of  the 
condition  of  other  persons  outside  the  home.  But 
let  one  of  these  families  take  up  residence  in  a 
city  where  land  is  so  dear  that  few  can  own  a 
separate  dwelling,  where  most  of  the  houses  are 
rented  by  the  month  or  year,  and  where  many 
families  are  crowded  closely  together  under  the 
same  roof,  where  all  are  compelled  to  jostle  each 
other  in  the  halls  and  are  totally  ignorant  of  the 
character  of  their  neighbors,  though  affected  by 
them  in  health  and  morality;  add  poverty  to 
crowding,  and  then  imagine  how  little  the  ordi- 
nary workingman  can  do  to  prevent  evils  in 
physical  and  moral  conditions.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances one  has  the  conviction  that  appeal 
must  be  made  to  some  general  law  which  com- 
mands the  landlord,  and  which  restrains  the  selfish 
tenant  and  guards  the  purity  of  childhood.  Moral 
suasion   will    not    secure    action    from    reluctant 


i 


6o  Social  Duties 

lation.  In  the  case  of  the  able-bodied  adult,  relief 
can  be  safely  given  only  in  return  for  productive 
labor ;  and  where  dependence  is  due  to  sickness  the 
relief  must  be  so  administered  as  to  restore  the 
capacity  to  earn  the  means  of  living. 

The  objection  to  this  method  of  meeting  the 
minimum  standard  is  that  it  degrades  the  re- 
cipient, tends  to  make  him  indolent  and  morally 
feeble,  reduces  the  wages  of  the  industrious,  lays 
an  undue  burden  on  tax-payers  and  generous 
citizens,  and  so  injures  all. 

The  methods  of  administering  charity  in  ex- 
ceptional and  necessary  cases  cannot  be  discussed 
here,  but  must  be  reserved  for  another  time. 

3.  Measures  relating  to  the  industrial  group  or 
the  wage-earners.  At  this  point  we  may  barely 
mention  some  of  the  methods  by  which  working- 
men  are  helped  to  maintain  and  raise  their  stand- 
ard of  living  and  means  of  support :  bureaus  of 
employment,  industrial  education  and  training,  co- 
operation in  purchase  of  commodities  and  con- 
struction of  homes,  savings  schemes  to  encourage 
thrift,  provident  loans,  industrial  insurance,  legal 
minimum  wages,  and  many  others  which  will  be 
discussed  later. 

Two  of  the  social  movements  are  so  closely 
related  to  family  welfare  that  they  must  be  men- 
tioned here — shelter  and  food. 


62  Social  Duties 

avarice;  only  the  "big  stick"  of  law  enforced  by 
inspectors,  that  "sword  of  the  magistrate"  of 
which  Paul  said  that  it  was  not  borne  in  vain, 
will  tame  the  beast  of  greed  and  of  ignorance. 

What  does  the  duty  of  a  city  require  in  rela- 
tion to  the  control  of  sanitary  and  decent  habita- 
tions? (i)  Since  houses  must  be  built  every 
year  to  replace  old  ones  or  to  provide  for  grow- 
ing population,  the  government  must  secure 
through  legal  regulations  that  every  dwelling 
conform  to  the  necessary  conditions  of  health  and 
propriety;  (2)  old  houses  which  are  unfit  for 
residence  must  be  altered  and  improved,  if  pos- 
sible, to  make  them  conform  to  the  minimum 
standard  of  health  and  decency;  (3)  the  govern- 
ment must  condemn  and  destroy  houses  which 
are  a  menace  to  health  and  morality;  (4)  the 
administration  must  provide  adequate  super- 
vision of  present  and  future  tenement  houses  so 
that  they  shall  be  properly  kept.  In  the  minimum 
standard  of  a  human  dwelling  experience  has 
taught  that  the  following  items  must  be  included : 
sufficient  light  and  air;  space  about  the  dwelling 
to  secure  ventilation  and  sunshine ;  such  construc- 
tion of  walls,  partitions,  and  stairways  that  the 
home  may  not  become  a  death-trap  in  case  of  fire; 
separate  water-closets  and  washing  facilities  to 
guard  modesty  and  purity;  a  certain  space  for 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  63 

each  person;  partitions  so  constructed  that  the 
sexes  may  be  separate  and  boarders  be  kept  apart 
from  the  family;  cellars  and  courts  clean  and 
open  to  air  and  light.  Experience  and  expert 
study  have  developed  a  code  of  building  con- 
struction which  has  been  adopted  by  the  leading 
cities,  covering  the  minute  details  of  all  such 
points. 

In  the  city  of  Liverpool  it  was  found  that 
private  enterprise  was  not  ready  to  build  houses, 
and  rent  them  at  a  rate  which  poor  workingmen 
could  afford  to  pay,  and  the  city  bought  ground 
and  built  decent  habitations  of  simple  style,  and 
rented  them  at  cost  to  laborers  who  were  living 
in  houses  unfit  for  human  life.  The  moral  effects 
of  these  changes  were  soon  apparent;  the  number 
of  drunken  and  riotous  men  brought  before  the 
police  courts  was  reduced;  sexual  purity  was  in- 
creased and  prostitution  diminished;  rents  were 
promptly  paid;  cleanliness  was  enforced  until  it 
became  a  pleasant  habit;  mortality  of  children 
was  reduced;  less  time  was  lost  from  work 
through  vicious  indulgence;  and  in  every  respect 
the  conduct  and  character  of  the  people  were  im- 
proved. There  were,  of  course,  theorists  who 
shook  their  heads  because  all  this  public  solicitude 
for  the  welfare  of  the  poor  contradicted  their 
theories  of  government  functions,  and  they  called 


64  Social  Duties 

the  policy  hard  names,  as  "socialism,"  "paternal- 
ism," and  the  like;  but  that  good  came  of  the 
scheme  no  one  can  deny.  In  order  that  persons 
able  to  pay  higher  rent  should  not  take  the  new 
houses,  it  was  wisely  ordered  that  only  families 
driven  out  of  the  unfit  dwellings  could  rent  the 
new  houses.  Other  cities  have  failed  at  this 
point,  because  they  neglected  this  precaution  and 
rented  to  any  bidder. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  laws  of  your  state  regulate  the  building  of 
dwelling-houses?  If  you  live  in  a  city,  get  a  copy  of 
the  building  ordinances.  Are  such  regulations  part  of 
a  moral  code? 

2.  Learn  whose  duty  it  is  to  enforce  these  laws,  as 
officers  of  health,  state  inspectors,  police,  fire  marshal, 
etc. 

3.  Are  these  laws  complete  and  reasonable,  and  are 
they  well  enforced?  If  there  is  neglect,  who  is  to  blame, 
and  how  can  he  be  officially  brought  to  account? 

4.  Do  you  know  of  any  dwellings  which  are  unfit  for 
human  habitation?  Discuss  ways  of  improving  the  con- 
ditions. 

5.  Has  your  community  any  ideal  of  duty  on  the  sub- 
ject of  dwellings?  What  evidence  have  you  for  your 
opinion? 

6.  Can  you  trace  any  good  or  evil  spiritual  conse- 
quences of  the  physical  surroundings  of  particular 
families?     Bring  these  to  the  attention  of  the  class. 

7.  How  is  the  whole  question  of  habitations  related 
to  social  duty  and  hence  to  Christianity? 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  65 

REFERENCES   TO   LITERATURE 

DeForest  and  Veiller,  The  Tenement  House  Problem. 
C.  D.  Wright,  Practical  Sociology   (last  edition). 

IV.       SOCIAL    DUTIES    IN    RELATION    TO    FOOD    AND 
DRINK 

"Whether  ye  eat,  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye 
do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God"  (I  Cor.  10:31)  ; 
"Or  know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  a  temple  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you,  which  ye  have 
from  God?  ....  glorify  God  therefore  in  your 
body"  (I  Cor.  6:19,  20).  We  assume  in  this 
discussion  that  the  biblical  teaching  in  respect  to 
the  body  is  familiar  even  from  childhood.  We 
proceed  at  once  to  outline  topics  for  a  discussion 
which  may  lead  to  clearer  knowledge  of  what  our 
duty  is  in  respect  to  the  treatment  of  the  body. 
The  information  must  be  sought  by  consulting 
physicians,  and  books  on  anatomy,  hygiene,  and 
sanitation,  some  of  which  are  mentioned  at  the 
close  of  this  chapter. 

I.  The  influence  of  the  body  and  the  spirit 
upon  each  other. — The  body  affects  the  spirit, 
and,  in  turn,  the  state  of  the  mind  affects  the 
health.  Jesus  healed  the  body  as  part  of  his  re- 
deeming work.  Gluttony  depresses  the  soul, 
weakens  moral  courage,  excites  animal  passions, 
produces    diseases,    so    reduces    usefulness    and 


66  Social  Duties 

efficiency  and  shortens  life.  Bad  physical  habits 
in  parents  cause  their  children  to  inherit  their 
weakness  and  faults.  On  the  other  hand,  insuf- 
ficient and  improper  food  injures  the  body  and 
impairs  the  spiritual  forces  and  character.  A 
few  persons  overcome  feeble  health  by  strong 
effort,  but  weakness  of  the  physical  side  of  our 
nature  easily  passes  over  into  the  soul.  We  do 
not  know  exactly  the  connection  between  these 
two  sides  of  our  being,  but  the  fact  that  they 
influence  each  other  is  known  by  all.  Upright 
judges,  after  a  dinner  which  is  not  digested,  have 
been  tempted  to  throw  the  scales  of  justice  out  of 
balance.  Preachers  in  ill-health,  or  imperfectly 
fed,  show  it  in  peevish,  whining,  or  scolding 
sermons.  Toothache  makes  bad  temper.  Rheu- 
matism cripples  a  good  man  in  the  race  for  the 
prize  of  righteous  living.  Ague  chills  the  ardor 
of  devotion.  Neuralgia  unfits  for  social  fellow- 
ship. Many  diseases  are  due  to  unscientific 
feeding.  These  facts  show  that  food,  which  is 
absolutely  essential  to  life,  is  also  an  important 
factor  in  right  living.  No  man  can  put  forth 
more  energy  in  song  or  prayer  or  charitable 
labor  than  he  gets  from  food  consumed  and  as- 
similated. It  is  our  duty  each  day  to  have  just 
as  much  force  as  we  can  possibly  get  out  of  what 
we  eat,  and  then  to  direct  that  force  according  to 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  67 

the  laws  of  social  well-being,  the  law  of  love  to 
God  and  man.^ 

2.  The  necessity  of  education  in  reference  to 
food  and  drink. — It  is  a  duty  which  each  per- 
son owes  to  society  to  acquire  all  possible  knowl- 
edge of  food  and  drink,  and  it  is  our  duty  as 
members  of  state  and  nation  to  use  the  powers  of 
government  to  educate  all  citizens  in  this  matter, 
and  to  protect  the  people  against  fraud,  adultera- 
tion, and  poison. 

a)  What  is  the  use  of  food  and  drink?  The 
purpose  of  taking  food  and  drink  is  to  build  up 
the  structure  of  bones,  nerves,  muscles,  and  all 
tissues  of  the  body;  to  repair  the  waste  of  the 
system  which  goes  on  constantly;  and  to  produce 
energy  which  may  go  out  in  the  activities  of  life. 
If  men  were  to  stop  consuming  food,  all  the  in- 
stitutions of  society  would  soon  fall  into  ruin 
with  the  utter  destruction  of  all  life.     Religion 

'  "Every  man  has  lain   on  his  own   trencher." 

"Men  dig  their  graves  with  their  own  knives  and  forks." 

"Public  men  are  dying  not  of  overwork,  but  of  their 
dinners"  (Mrs.  Ellen  H.  Richards). 

"The  seat  of  courage  is  the  stomach"  (Frederick  the  Great), 

"We  are  fed,  not  to  be  fed,  but  to  work." 

"Courage,  cheerfulness,  and  a  desire  to  work  depend  mostly 
on  good  nutrition"   (Moleschott). 

"The  destiny  of  nations  depends  on  how  they  are  fed." 
— Quotations    from    Lake    Placid    Conference    on    Home    Eco- 
nomics, 1905. 


68  Social  Duties 

itself  would  disappear  from  the  world  more  ef- 
fectually than  by  the  murder  of  all  believers. 
Saints  turn  nutrition  into  prayers  as  wicked  men 
transform  it  into  curses. 

b)  What  are  the  essential  elements  of  food 
and  drink?  The  authorities  tell  us  that  three 
kinds  of  organic  materials  are  necessary  to  health 
and  life:  proteids,  fats,  and  carbohydrates,  with 
certain  acids,  and  also  inorganic  materials,  in- 
cluding water  and  mineral  salts.  The  proteids 
are  composed  of  various  chemical  elements,  are 
found  in  both  vegetables  and  meats,  and  are 
necessary  to  life,  while  if  taken  in  excess  they 
produce  disorders  of  many  kinds.  Fats  consist 
of  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen;  nitrogen  is 
supplied  by  the  proteids.  The  carbohydrates 
include  starch,  sugar,  and  cellulose.  Some  of 
the  salts  needed  are  sodium,  potassium  chlorides, 
potassium,  magnesium,  calcium  phosphates,  and 
compounds  of  iron. 

c)  Quantity  of  food  and  drink  required: 

For  the  maintenance  of  a  proper  degree  of  health  and 
strength  the  individual  must  ingest  an  amount  of  food 
sufficient  to  meet  the  daily  loss  of  nitrogen  and  carbon. 
This  must  necessarily  vary  according  to  circumstances, 
and  hence  no  rule  can  be  laid  down  to  fit  all  cases.  The 
best  that  can  be  done  is  to  make  general  rules  based  on 
the  amount  of  work  performed;  for  the  greater  the 
amount  of  work  done,  the  greater  the  amount  of   food 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  69 

required  to  meet  the  necessary  consumption  of  fuel  and 

to    replace    the    tissues It    has    been    estimated    by 

Voit  ....  that  a  man  weighing  70  to  75  kilos  (154  to 
165  pounds),  and  working  at  moderately  hard  labor  9  to 
10  hours  a  day,  requires  118  grams  of  proteids,  56  of 
fat,  and  500  of  carbohydrates   (Harrington). 

Some  later  writers  ^  think  that  the  amount  of 
proteids  may  be  considerably  reduced  with  ad- 
vantage to  health.  The  measure  used  is  called 
a  calorie,  which  means  the  amount  of  heat  neces- 
sary to  raise  the  temperature  of  i  kilogram  of 
water,  i  degree  Centigrade,  and  this  energy  is 
able  to  lift  425.5  kilograms  one  meter.  Voit 
thought  that  it  was  necessary  for  a  man  at  work 
according  to  his  standard  to  consume  food  enough 
to  create  3,054.6  calories  in  a  day.  Beginning 
with  this  measurement,  scientific  students  are 
working  out  the  quantities  necessary  for  all 
classes  of  persons — infants,  boys  and  girls, 
women,  and  persons  in  all  occupations  and  cir- 
cumstances of  climate,  age,  health,  weight,  etc. 
These  interesting  studies  will  result  in  great 
economy  of  food  and  in  improved  health.  But 
it  would  be  impracticable  and  undesirable  to 
weigh  viands  every  time  we  eat,  and  this  is  un- 
necessary. Nature  will  aid  in  finding  the  limit 
of  quantity  by  the  indications  of  appetite,  though 

*  R.    H.    Chittenden,   Physiological    Economy   in   Nutrition 
(1904), 


7©  Social  Duties 

this  is  not  infallible  and  may  be  morbid.  It  has 
been  found,  as  by  Gladstone,  that  by  very 
thorough  mastication  of  food  one  is  satisfied 
with  a  smaller  quantity  and  at  the  same  time  is 
more  perfectly  nourished. 

Food  must  be  agreeable  and  varied  in  order  to 
perform  its  task;  and  the  pleasures  of  the  table 
aid  digestion.  The  satisfaction  of  food  is  part  of 
nature's  way  of  assuring  the  perpetuation  of  life 
and  of  all  that  should  go  with  life.  Further 
details  must  be  sought  in  the  books  cited,  or  in 
others  equally  reliable. 

3.  Alcoholic  drinks. — It  is  in  connection  with 
this  subject  that  we  come  upon  the  use  and  abuse 
of  alcoholic  drinks.  Fluids  are  necessary  to 
health,  and  agreeable  drinks  have  direct  value  in 
connection  with  foods.  The  danger  of  drinking 
intoxicating  fluids  has  been  made  familiar  in  the 
temperance  campaigns  of  the  past  generation, 
although  with  much  ignorance  and  exaggera- 
tion. A  few  maxims  may  be  sufficient  to  start 
discussion  in  the  right  direction.  If  alcoholic 
fluids  are  required  for  health,  they  should  be 
prescribed  by  a  reputable  physician,  just  as  quin- 
ine, strychnine,  and  arsenic  are  prescribed.  Alco- 
hol is  a  powerful  remedy,  and  even  in  its  diluted 
forms  lurk  perils  to  health  and  character.  Very 
few  persons  actually  need  alcohol  in  any  form, 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  71 

since  thousands  of  men  have  done  hard  work  and 
accompHshed  the  highest  results  in  all  occupa- 
tions and  all  climates  without  such  stimulants. 
Ordinary  food  supplies  all  the  alcohol  that  is 
really  necessary,  except  in  disease  or,  perhaps, 
old  age.  All  the  nutritive  value  that  is  in  alcoholic 
drinks  can  be  bought  at  much  less  expense  in 
foods  which  are  not  dangerous. 

4.  Social  customs. — Banquets  and  feasts  must 
be  judged  by  their  effects  on  health  and  their 
cost  in  waste.  Not  only  in  commercial,  political, 
and  fashionable  circles  do  people  sin  against  the 
canons  of  hygiene  and  economy,  but  even  in 
church  meetings,  both  in  country  and  city,  glut- 
tony and  waste  are  not  unknown.  "Tell  it  not 
in  Gath."  While  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
children  go  hungry  to  bed,  the  waste  of  food 
cries  out  to  heavenly  pity  and  justice.  The 
miserable  falsehood  that  the  waste  of  rich  men 
is  the  good  fortune  of  the  poor,  by  increasing 
trade,  has  caused  many  a  death — death  by  surfeit 
and  death  by  starvation. 

5.  Adulteration  of  food  and  medicine. — Com- 
merce and  trade  deal  out  food  and  drink,  and 
they  must  be  brought  under  the  rule  of  moral 
principles.  From  ancient  times  complaints  have 
not  ceased  in  respect  to  short  weights  and  meas- 
ures.    The  temptation   is  ever  present   in   each 


72  Social  Duties 

of  billions  of  sales  to  get  pay  for  a  pound  when 
only  fifteen  ounces  are  delivered.  The  thrifty 
housewife  keeps  in  the  kitchen  her  own  scales, 
but  it  is  a  shame  she  must  do  so. 

Adulteration  of  food  has  become  a  subject  of 
discussion  all  over  the  civilized  world.  By  in- 
vestigations carried  on  by  private  parties,  and 
then  by  governments  of  nation  and  city,  the  extent 
of  this  wrong  has  been  made  public.  Setting 
aside  the  exaggerations  and  misrepresentations 
of  sensational  writers,  we  have  left  in  the  official 
reports  and  in  the  confessions  of  meat-packers, 
wholesale  grocers,  retail  dealers,  and  disclosures 
of  boards  of  health,  a  picture  of  unscrupulous 
neglect,  combined  with  ignorance  and  reckless- 
ness of  human  life,  which  is  humiliating  and  dis- 
couraging. Nor  are  merchants  alone  guilty,  for 
the  "honest  farmer,"  guileless  and  simple,  has 
been  known  to  ship  his  hogs  and  cattle  to  market 
as  quickly  as  possible  when  he  found  them 
threatened  with  some  disease  which  might  soon 
carry  them  off. 

How  can  social  righteousness  become  effective  ? 
Some  tell  us  by  individual  honesty,  by  preaching 
the  gospel,  and  by  conversion  of  sinners.  All 
this  is  right;  but  even  converted  men  need  to  be 
taught  their  duty  by  the  law,  since  many  of  them 
think  the  parson  and  Sunday-school  teacher  are 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  73 

not  familiar  with  business.  Some  adulterators 
of  food  stand  high  among  friends  of  missions. 
They  never  think  they  are  doing  wrong  until  they 
are  threatened  with  exposure  by  a  government 
inspector.  The  interest  of  the  individual  will  not 
protect  the  common  interest;  the  community 
must  protect  the  public  welfare  by  law.  Self- 
interest  needs  both  enlightenment  and  punish- 
ment to  make  it  serve  the  public.  The  public 
must  have  scientific  and  upright  inspectors 
wherever  food  is  prepared,  whether  on  ranch  and 
farm  or  in  packing-houses,  storage  warehouses, 
or  grocery  stores.  In  this  connection  it  might  be 
well  for  the  class  to  make  an  inspection  of  the 
places  in  which  the  animal  food  of  the  town  or 
village  is  prepared ;  they  are  likely  to  find  things 
in  the  slaughter-house  which  will  remind  them 
of  the  Chicago  and  Kansas  City  scandals. 

The  pure  food  laws  recently  enacted  by  Con- 
gress to  regulate  interstate  commerce  in  foods, 
and  the  improvement  in  methods  of  inspecting 
the  preparation  of  meats,  are  examples  of  the 
value  of  appeals  to  government  against  private 
neglect  or  greed  of  gain.  It  is  hoped  that  not 
only  will  these  kinds  of  business  find  a  better 
market  in  all  civilized  lands,  but  that  at  home  we 
shall  have  more  just  weights  and  purer  diet. 
Incidentally  the  great  merchants  themselves  will 


74  Social  Duties 

be  made  better  men.  The  magistrate  and  Presi- 
dent are  ministers  of  God  for  this  very  thing-, 
just  as  truly  as  pastors  and  deacons. 

Patent  medicines,  only  too  frequently  adver- 
tised in  religious  papers,  through  ignorance  and 
neglect  of  careful  inquiry,  have  become  one  of 
the  more  important  causes  of  inebriety.  Persons 
are  induced  by  these  advertisements  to  svv^allow 
stuff  recommended  by  ministers  of  the  gospel, 
who  of  course  never  made  chemical  analysis  of 
the  contents;  and  since  it  makes  them  "feel  good" 
for  a  time,  they  imagine  they  are  cured  by  it. 
Meantime  some  form  the  habit  of  depending  on 
dangerous  stimulants.  Many  medicines,  as  sooth- 
ing syrups,  contain  opium,  and  the  druggist  does 
not  alvi'ays  give  notice  to  mothers  who  ignorantly 
drug  their  children  to  death.  There  is  a  long 
series  of  these  immoral  practices  which  might  be 
brought  out  in  many  communities  with  the  help 
of  honest  druggists  and  physicians. 

6.  The  duty  of  society  to  the  ignorant  and  the 
young. — Social  duty  must  not  ignore  the  poor 
and  the  ignorant  in  all  our  towns  who  perish 
from  hunger,  or  become  feeble  and  pauperized 
from  food  unsuitable  in  kind  or  improperly 
cooked.  Food  is  at  the  basis  of  civilization,  and 
cooking  is  an  art  which  ought  to  be  taught  every- 
where in  schools.     Private  philanthropy  and  in- 


Duties  Relating  to  Family  Life  75 

dividual  effort  will  never  be  able  to  train  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  girls  and  young  women 
for  household  duties. 

The  duties  of  society  in  relation  to  drinking 
customs  should  be  taught  in  public  schools  as  a 
natural  part  of  the  study  of  human  anatomy, 
physiology,  and  hygiene.  This  should  not  be 
done  in  special  hours  and  classes.  There  is  much 
complaint  among  both  scientific  men  and  teachers 
of  high  rank  that  the  books  used  in  some  states 
are  not  accurate  and  reliable,  and  that  the  method 
of  instruction  required  by  law  is  frequently 
monotonous  and  repetitious.  Want  of  accuracy 
and  interest  in  method  of  teaching  will  destroy 
all  the  good  influence  of  such  instruction  and 
cause  a  reaction  against  the  whole  movement. 
REFERENCES   TO   LITERATURE 

Mrs.  E.  H.  Richards,  Cost  of  Food,  and  Chemistry  of 
Cooking  and  Cleaning. 

Mrs.    M.    W.    Abel,    Practical  Sanitary   and   Economic 
Cooking. 

Mrs.  E.  Ewing,  The  Art  of  Cookery. 

J.    S.    Billings     (ed.),    Physiological    Aspects    of    the 
Liquor  Problem. 

H.  N.  Martin,  The  Human  Body. 

J.  Rowntree  and  A.   Sherwell,  The  Temperance  Prob- 
lem and  Social  Reform. 

C.  Harrington,  Practical  Hygiene. 

Florence  Kelley,  Some  Ethical  Gains  through  Legisla- 
tion, chaps,  vi,  viii. 


76  Social  Duties 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  Members  of  the  class  who  know  of  adulteration  of 
food  and  drugs  can   report. 

2.  See  if  improper  advertisements  of  patent  medicines 
are  found  in  secular  and  religious  newspapers,  and  dis- 
cuss facts  discovered. 

3.  What  is  gluttony?  When  does  a  man  come  under 
the  influence  of  alcohol  enough  to  be  "drunk?"  Is  in- 
toxication  the   worst   evil   of   using   alcohol  ? 

4.  What  are  some  of  the  inherited  effects  of  gluttony 
and  use  of  alcohol? 

5.  Analyze  the  Pure  Food  Law  of  Congress. 

6.  What  are  the  duties  of  health  officers  of  state  and 
city  in  your  own  community? 

7.  Why  cannot  the  regulation  of  food  and  drink  be 
left  to  individuals?     Why  is  law  necessary? 


CHAPTER  IV 

SOCIAL    DUTIES    TO    NEGLECTED    CHILDREN 

If  we  read  the  Bible  with  our  eyes  open  to  its 
meaning  we  gain  a  strong  conviction  that  God 
cares  for  children.  Nowhere  in  literature  are 
there  more  touching  and  commanding  words 
than  those  in  which  Jesus  claims  the  protectorate 
of  all  the  little  ones  on  earth  in  the  name  of  the 
Heavenly  Father.  If  we  walk  through  the  streets 
of  a  modern  town,  or  visit  factories  where  chil- 
dren are  employed,  or  hospitals  where  the  victims 
of  sin  languish,  we  are  startled  and  awakened  by 
the  spectacle  of  wrongs  done  to  the  innocent  and 
helpless.  But  before  a  large  community  of  com- 
fortable people  can  actually  be  made  to  observe 
and  think,  many  must  be  personally  annoyed, 
vexed,  injured,  or  shocked  by  some  inhuman 
barbarity.  Without  standards  of  judgment  kind 
persons  have  actually  visited  work-places  and 
prisons  where  the  young  have  been  ruined  in 
health  and  morals  without  being  stirred,  be- 
cause they  did  not  understand  the  consequences 
of  such  conditions.  For  centuries  Christians  have 
permitted  immature  persons  by  the  million  to 
bear  prematurely  the  burdens  of  long  days  of 
toil    simply   because   they   thought    it   was   only 

77 


78  Social  Duties 

natural  and  inevitable.  More  than  a  century  of 
agitation  in  Christian  England  was  necessary  to 
abolish  legally  the  employment  of  boys  in  sweep- 
ing out  the  long,  crooked,  suffocating  chimneys, 
in  which  many  were  murdered  after  brutal  tor- 
tures. Even  tragic  facts  do  not  always  move 
good  men  to  act  until  they  are  induced  to  trace 
out  the  full  consequence  of  social  neglect.  Ob- 
servation is  feeble  and  blind  without  imagination 
and  judgment  applied  to  the  entire  situation. 
The  evils  of  child  abuse  sometimes  require  sev- 
eral generations  of  gradual  degeneration  to  reveal 
themselves;  and  at  the  very  moment  a  child  is 
being  destroyed  it  may  be  gay  and  buoyant.  The 
dead  tell  no  tales,  and  fresh  victims  conceal  the 
insidious  effects  of  social  wrong.  No  one  is  so 
hopelessly  blind  as  he  who  will  not  see  and  who 
curses  the  philanthropists  for  interfering  with  a 
profit  in  human  lives.  And  where  there  is  profit 
in  oppression  of  the  speechless  and  cost  in  their 
redemption  the  great  mass  of  the  public  is  slow 
to  move.  Hence  they  who  undertake  to  right 
the  wrongs  of  childhood  must  delve  below  the 
surface  of  appearances,  must  gather  facts  from 
all  sources,  must  see  the  entire  situation  in  all  its 
play  of  causes  and  effects. 


Duties  to  Neglected  Children  79 

I.      DISCOVERY   OF  SIGNIFICANT   FACTS 

A  Bible  class  may  render  service  to  Christ  by 
taking  up  such  a  study  in  the  state ;  but  its  mem- 
bers must  go  about  the  quest  for  facts  with 
intelligence. 

I.  Classification. — Aimless  groping  in  the  dark 
discovers  nothing;  our  inquiry  must  be  syste- 
matic and  directed  to  the  subject.  He  who  is 
looking  for  flowers  finds  them;  he  who  seeks 
shells  goes  to  the  beach;  the  deer-hunter  travels 
to  the  forest  glades;  the  fisherman  casts  his  bait 
in  the  stream. 

a)  We  must  look  for  the  neglected  infant.  In 
all  cities  of  considerable  size  may  be  found  un- 
scrupulous men  and  women  who  keep  so-called 
hospitals,  or  baby-farms,  where  young  unmarried 
mothers  take  refuge  to  hide  their  shame  and  then 
give  over  their  unwanted  babes  into  the  hands 
of  harpies  who  let  them  die  of  slow  starvation  or 
hasten  death  with  drugs.  These  miserable  people 
are  in  Germany  grimly  called  "angel-makers," 
because  they  are  supposed  to  send  so  many  inno- 
cents to  heaven  by  a  short  route.  In  these  secret 
places  of  cities  are  often  found  betrayed  girls 
from  distant  villages  and  country  places ;  for  not 
all  human  sin  originates  in  cities.  Many  neglected 
infants  remain  with  ignorant  and  often  careless 
parents.      Ignorance    and    extreme   poverty   are 


8o  Social  Duties 

usually  the  cause  of  neglect  and  death  of  infants 
of  poor  married  people.  Usually  the  mother 
loves  her  babe  if  it  remain  with  her,  but  destitu- 
tion makes  one  hopeless  and  almost  relieved  when 
the  little  one  passes  away  and  there  is  one  less 
mouth  to  feed. 

b)  Those  who  seek  may  find  parents  who  are 
actually  cruel ;  who  hire  their  children  out  to 
wandering  beggars  or  send  them  on  the  street  to 
sell  papers  in  wintry  nights  and  beat  them  if  they 
return  without  money.  Many  are  hot-tempered 
and  strike  their  children  through  caprice,  while 
alcohol  benumbs  the  moral  sense  and  lets  loose  the 
beast  in  man.  Children  so  treated  become  vaga- 
bonds, beggars,  thieves,  or  prostitutes. 

c)  We  have  already  spoken  of  young  children 
sent  too  early  to  work  in  factories  before  educa- 
tion is  advanced,  the  bones  strong,  the  muscular 
development  complete. 

d)  We  may  also  find  defective  children — the 
crippled,  blind,  deaf. 

e)  Here  and  there  in  every  state  are  the  sub- 
normal and  abnormal — feeble  minded,  idiots, 
imbeciles,  epileptics. 

2.  Hozv  are  we  to  extend  our  knozvledge  be- 
yond the  narrozu  bounds  of  personal  observation? 
— We  may  travel  to  other  places  and  widen  the 
area  of  observation,  or  we  may  send  inquirers. 


Duties  to  Neglected  Children  8i 

In  fact,  however,  this  is  not  necessary,  for  the 
government  is  now  making  investigation  which 
will  bring  out  most  of  the  essential  facts  through- 
out the  nation;  and  such  noble  philanthropies  as 
the  Sage  Fund  will  follow  up  these  wide  investi- 
gations with  very  careful  and  minute  studies  of 
particular  localities. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

Mortality  Statistics,  Bureau  of  the  Census,  1905. 

Child  Labor  in  the  United  States,  Bulletin  69,  Bureau 
of  the  Census,  1907. 

Insane  and  Feeble-minded  in  Hospitals  and  Institu- 
tions, Bureau  of  the  Census,  1904. 

John  Spargo,  The  Bitter  Cry  of  the  Children,  1906 
(with  many  references). 

3.  With  the  help  of  all  these  sources  of  in- 
formation the  student  of  social  duties  who  will 
have  ground  for  an  independent  judgment  must 
consider,  as  fully  as  possible,  all  the  facts  relating 
to  neglected  children  in  the  neighborhood,  or  state, 
or  nation.  The  next  step  is  to  study  with  all 
completeness  the  causes  of  the  conditions  dis- 
covered; that  is,  what  there  is  in  the  situation, 
earnings,  habits,  surroundings  of  the  families 
which  has  led  to  such  cruelty  and  harm.  It  is 
also  necessary  to  consider  the  consequences  of 
neglect :  the  preventable  mortality  of  infants,  the 


82  Social  Duties 

crippling  and  dwarfing  of  body,  the  want  of 
education  for  life,  the  suffering  which  comes 
from  thwarted  desire  of  children  to  play  and  be 
happy  without  too  early  care,  the  consequent  loss 
of  vigor,  earning  power,  and  disposition  to  labor 
in  later  years,  and  the  revolt  against  social  order 
which  inevitably  arises  where  childhood  is  noth- 
ing but  misery  and  grind.  Such  reflections  upon 
facts  observed  or  learned  from  any  reliable  source 
will  surely  start  a  desire  to  know  what  good 
people  have  learned  by  experience  as  to  the  best 
methods  of  curing  the  evil  and  preventing  the 
wrong.     To  this  we  now  turn  attention. 

The  man  of  science  believes  in  law,  not  in 
chance,  fate,  guesswork,  blundering  without 
guidance  of  principles.  Kind  intentions  are  not 
a  substitute  for  knowledge;  gentle  emotions  are 
not  full  equipment  for  the  service  of  neglected 
childhood.  During  hundreds  of  years  of  philan- 
thropic activity  the  world  has  discovered  certain 
methods  of  dealing  with  such  needy  ones  and 
has  learned  that  other  methods  are  harmful  and 
to  be  rejected.  Success  is  not  a  matter  of  acci- 
dent but  of  scientific  method  carried  out  by  com- 
petent and  earnest  administrators.  What  are 
examples  of  such  principles  of  guidance? 


Duties  to  Neglected  Children  83 

II.       PRINCIPLES    AND     METHODS     OF     CARE    OF 
NEGLECTED    CHILDREN 

It  is  here  taken  for  granted  that  every  child  has 
a  right  to  conditions  favorable  to  health,  educa- 
tion, morality,  and,  therefore,  to  food,  play, 
parental  love,  maintenance,  and  good  example. 
If  every  child  has  such  rights  then  society  has  a 
duty  to  enforce  them  against  the  failure  of  par- 
ents or  to  supply  the  place  of  parental  mainte- 
nance and  education  where  these  for  any  reason 
fail.  The  old  English  law  more  or  less  clearly 
implied  this  obligation  and  provided,  though  im- 
perfectly, for  the  supervision  of  children.  To 
deny  this  social  obligation  would  be  to  dissolve 
the  moral  bond  itself.  If  this  duty  of  the  com- 
munity cannot  be  made  clear  none  can.  The  best 
method  discoverable  is  the  form  of  the  social 
duty;  it  expresses  the  moral  law  for  conduct  in 
this  field.  We  may  here  give  some  examples  of 
such  principles,  and  the  student  can  find  the  proof 
of  their  wisdom  and  soundness  in  the  works  of 
reference  cited. 

I.  Principles  relating  to  neglected  infants. — It 
is  universally  taught  by  the  competent  authorities 
that  the  mother  who  can  do  so  should  give  her 
babe  its  natural  nourishment,  for  thereby,  on  the 
average,  the  chances  of  life  are  greatly  increased. 
In  extreme  cases,  where  nature's  provision  fails 


84  Social  Duties 

or  is  insufficient,  cow's  milk,  properly  prepared 
and  pure,  may  be  fed  under  careful  medical 
advice.  To  carry  out  this  principle  various  or- 
ganizations have  been  effected.  Societies  have 
been  formed  to  encourage  mothers  to  nourish 
their  own  infants;  and  where  the  mothers  must 
go  out  to  work  these  societies  pay  a  pension  to 
enable  her  to  perform  her  duty  at  home.  In  great 
cities  the  government  inspects  the  dairies  and 
places  of  sale  to  prevent  the  distribution  of  milk 
which,  owing  to  the  presence  of  hurtful  bacteria 
or  lack  of  nutritious  elements,  is  more  poison 
than  food.^  This  movement  to  supervise  the 
milk  supply  of  large  towns  came  none  too  soon, 
for  the  slaughter  of  innocents  went  on  with  a 
ferocity  beside  which  the  murder  of  children  by 
Herod  was  mercy.  Philanthropy  has  established 
associations  of  trained  nurses  who  go  from  house 
to  house  giving  instruction  to  mothers  in  relation 
to  the  methods  of  preserving  the  lives  and  vigor 
of  their  children.  Ignorance  is  more  frequently 
the  cause  of  disease  and  death  than  cruelty  or 
carelessness.  Physicians  have  also  opened  free 
dispensaries  for  poor  mothers  to  supply  them  with 
artificial  food,  where  it  is  necessary,  and  to  teach 
mothers  how  to  maintain  the  life  and  energy  of 
the  young  citizens.     Experience  has  shown  that 

*  See  John  Spargo,  The  Common  Sense  of  the  Milk  Problem. 


Duties  to  Neglected  Children  85 

it  will  not  do  to  leave  this  delicate  task  to  the 
ignorant  impulses  of  poor  mothers.  The  pity 
of  it  is  that  young  women  so  frequently  go  at 
once  from  factory  and  shop  to  wifehood  and 
motherhood  without  ever  having  any  instruction 
in  the  preservation  of  their  own  health  or  in  the 
care  of  infants.  Such  information  as  they  pick 
up  by  chance  from  mothers  and  midwives  is  often 
misleading. 

The  method  of  helping  the  infants  of  un- 
married mothers  must  be  studied.  First  of  all, 
asylum  should  be  afforded  such  unfortunate  girls 
in  their  hour  of  misery.  Experience  has  shown 
that  usually  an  unmarried  mother  will  take  refuge 
and  care  for  her  babe  if  she  is  not  unduly  ex- 
posed to  shame.  She  ought  to  be  taught  that  to 
abandon  the  babe  is  equivalent  to  multiplying 
the  probabilities  of  its  death;  desertion  is  murder; 
she  should  nurse  her  babe  for  one  year  at  least. 
Whether  after  that  she  should  have  the  control 
of  the  child  must  depend  on  her  nature,  educa- 
tion, character,  and  situation.  Good  homes  can 
generally  be  found  for  such  young  mothers  if 
they  are  able  and  willing  to  do  household  work. 
An  open  door  of  refuge  for  the  disgraced  and 
terrified  girl,  victim  of  passion,  folly,  and  wicked- 
ness, prevents  despair  and  suicide  or  infanticide, 
proves  that  the  pity  of  Christ  to  the  fallen  is  a 


86  Social  Duties 

reality,  and  opens  a  vision  of  a  merciful  God. 
Vice  brings  to  such  a  very  severe  punishment  and 
the  sinner  needs  not  further  rebuke  and  unpity- 
ing  retribution.  "He  that  is  without  sin  let  him 
first  cast  a  stone  at  her."  In  any  case  the  infant 
is  innocent  and  has  full  right  to  social  protection 
— just  as  much  riglit  as  the  offspring  of  lawful 
marriage.  In  infancy  such  a  child  has  right  to 
proper  physical  care,  and  when  it  grows  up  has 
right  to  be  free  from  humiliation  and  ostracism 
which  is  only  too  often  visited  on  the  helpless 
victim  of  sin  by  irrational  public  opinion. 

2.  Principles  governing  the  right  treatment  of 
children  morally  abandoned  or  cruelly  treated. — 
Cruelty  is  ingenious  and  inventive  in  ways  of 
torture.  Sometimes  cruelty  is  seen  in  partial 
starvation,  or  in  administering  doses  of  drugs  to 
keep  the  child  still,  sometimes  in  whipping  and 
beating  with  physical  injury.  The  animal  wants 
may  be  met  fairly  well,  and  yet  the  soul  of  the 
young  creature  may  be  assailed  by  odious  and 
defiling  examples  of  uncleanliness,  profanity, 
theft,  riot;  and  that  means  it  is  morally  aban- 
doned. For  all  such  cases  each  community  ought 
to  provide  protection  by  humane  societies,  juvenile 
courts  backed  by  laws  which  provide  punishment 
for  parents  who  contribute  by  their  neglect  to 
the  downfall  of  their  offspring.     Here  again  the 


Duties  to  Neglected  Children  87 

best-known  method  is  the  standard  of  social  duty. 
Of  recent  years  this  obHgation  of  the  state  has 
been  more  clearly  expressed  in  compulsory-edu- 
cation laws,  in  according  to  juvenile  courts  the 
power  to  call  before  them  not  merely  the  delin- 
quent child  but  parents  and  other  adults  who  in 
any  way  have  contributed  to  the  moral  hurt  of 
the  child.  If  parents  are  shown  to  be  too  poor  to 
give  adequate  maintenance  and  supervision  to 
their  children  then  the  community  ought,  through 
public  or  private  charity,  to  supply  what  is  essen- 
tial. 

3.  Principles  regulating  suitable  care  of  de- 
fective children. — Social  statistics  of  the  blind, 
deaf  and  crippled  are  by  no  means  complete  and 
satisfactory,  but  they  reveal  a  very  serious  num- 
ber of  these  classes  in  all  countries.  Blindness 
has  many  causes,  some  of  them  diseases  which 
can  be  traced  to  the  sins  of  fathers.  In  many 
forms  loss  of  sight  is  due  to  accident  and  sickness. 
Deafness  also  is  due  to  many  causes,  some  of 
them  preventable.  Crippled  children  are  those 
who  have  weak  spines  or  hip  disease,  or  are 
victims  of  violence  and  accidents. 

The  first  principle  for  social  duty  is  prevention, 
where  causes  are  known ;  and  the  next  is  cure, 
to  the  extent  to  which  this  is  possible.  Surgery 
and  medicine  are  doing  wonders  for  all  these 


88  Social  Duties 

unfortunates,  and  if  cure  is  not  possible,  life  in 
thousands  of  cases  is  at  least  made  tolerable  and 
useful. 

In  the  education  of  the  blind  and  of  the  deaf 
we  have  technical  problems  too  complex  to  discuss 
here.  There  are  special  treatises  on  methods  of 
teaching  the  deaf  and  the  blind  to  communicate 
with  each  other  and  with  the  outside  world.  The 
stories  of  Laura  Bridgman  and  Helen  Keller  are 
full  of  encouragement  and  interest.  Boarding- 
schools  are  provided  by  most  states  for  deaf  and 
for  blind  children.  But  it  has  been  found  that 
many  of  both  classes  may  be  taught  in  ordinary 
schools  by  special  teachers,  and  without  sending 
them  away  from  home.  So  far  as  this  is  possible, 
as  in  cities,  it  has  the  advantage  that  the  children 
are  not  deprived  of  home  and  its  natural  affec- 
tions and  care,  so  necessary  to  development  of 
character.  It  is  also  an  advantage  that  the  chil- 
dren early  learn  to  take  care  of  themselves  and 
live  independently  in  mixed  society. 

4.  Duty  of  the  community  to  abnormal  chil- 
dren.— Any  human  being  who  cannot  be  educated 
and  trained  to  be  capable  of  self-support  and 
self-control,  by  reason  of  imbecility,  idiocy,  epi- 
lepsy, or  insanity,  should  for  his  own  happiness, 
for  the  sake  of  the  family,  and  for  the  protection 
of  society,  be  placed  and  maintained  in  cottage 


Duties  to  Neglected  Children  89 

homes  in  separate  villages  apart  from  all  other 
human  beings,  under  the  gentle  but  firm  care  of 
teachers,  physicians,  and  superintendents.  They 
cannot  succeed  in  competition  with  normal  chil- 
dren, and  the  attempt  to  do  so  brings  nothing 
but  misery,  poverty,  and  humiliation.  These 
isolation  colonies  should  be  so  arranged  and 
administered  that  when  the  children  grow  up  in 
youth  and  maturity  they  will  not  be  permitted  to 
marry  or  to  have  children  of  their  own.  Boys 
and  girls  must  be  kept  in  separate  places.  With 
proper  surgical  treatment,  which  is  painless  and 
harmless,  and  even  necessary  to  their  health,  they 
will  never  under  any  circumstances  become  par- 
ents of  similar  miserable  creatures. 

Epileptic  children  and  adults  are  so  unlike 
idiotic  persons  that  they  ought  never  to  be  placed 
with  them;  special  villages  of  epileptics  are  now 
established  by  the  most  advanced  states,  and  also 
colonies  of  the  feeble  minded.  The  mode  of  life 
and  the  treatment  of  these  two  classes  of  un- 
fortunates is  so  dissimilar  that  it  is  impossible 
properly  to  care  for  them  under  the  same  admin- 
istration. 

Every  human  being  has  a  right  to  the  most 
complete  education  which  he  can  receive,  and 
therefore  it  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  provide 
means  for  such  education,  and  to  appoint  com- 


90  Social  Duties 

petent  and  specially  trained  teachers  and  physi- 
cians for  this  task. 

5.  Provision  for  idle  children. — Attention 
must  here  be  called  to  methods  of  dealing  with 
children  in  a  crowded  neighborhood,  or  even  in 
villages  and  towns  where  idle  groups  are  left  to 
their  own  resources  and  are  almost  sure  to  get 
into  mischief.  It  is  a  safe  principle  to  act  upon 
that  every  child  should  be  kept  busy  every  waking 
minute.  Indeed  every  healthy  child  will  take  care 
to  be  busy  at  something.  An  old  proverb  hits 
the  truth:  An  idle  mind  is  the  devil's  workshop. 
But  hands  busy  with  destruction  may  also  dig 
the  grave  of  character.  Children  must  have  room 
to  grow ;  a  hill  of  com  must  have  space  to  pro- 
duce grains,  and  civic  virtue  will  not  flourish  in 
a  sand  lot  covered  with  dirty  cans  and  refuse. 
Boys  and  girls  cannot  thrive  in  health  or  mor- 
ality if  their  only  playground  is  the  street  or  alley, 
and  they  are  left  without  older  persons  to  teach 
them  how  to  play. 

We  now  know  that  regulated,  supervised,  edu- 
cational play  is  nature's  way  of  character-build- 
ing. Through  plays  and  games  the  human  race 
first  learned  to  work.  A  child  who  never  has  a 
free  chance  to  jump,  spring,  shout,  laugh,  com- 
pete, dance,  run,  throw,  swim,  shoot,  wrestle,  box, 
build  and  make  things,  can  never  develop  all 
faculties. 


Duties  to  Neglected  Children  91 

Homes  of  the  poor  are  too  crowded  for  all  the 
play  children  require,  and  parents  seldom  have 
either  the  leisure  or  knowledge  to  teach  children 
how  to  play.  Policemen  are  still  more  unfit ;  it  is 
not  their  business.  Playgrounds  must  be  pro- 
vided by  the  community,  one  playground  for 
every  schoolhouse  at  least,  where  children  "learn 
love's  holy  earnest  in  a  pretty  play,  and  get  not 
over-early  solemnized."  When  children  of  school 
age  are  not  in  school  or  at  home,  let  them  be  with 
wise  teachers  who  know  how  to  make  play  a 
path  to  productive  work  to  the  sound  of  laughter 
and  music.  Play  directors  have  already  formed 
a  national  association  and  are  establishing  special 
normal  schools  for  training  teachers  for  this  new 
and  desirable  form  of  education.  Long  ago 
Froebel  with  his  kindergarten  revealed  the  value 
of  play  in  education,  but  his  ideas  are  now  ex- 
tended in  directions  and  ways  of  which  he  did 
not  dream. 

Boys  and  girls  like  to  use  tools  and  enjoy  the 
triumph  of  skill  in  making  pretty  and  useful 
articles.  Art  classes  in  drawing  and  color  paint- 
ing are  attractive.  Almost  any  occupation,  except 
reading  books,  can  with  healthy  and  vigorous 
children  be  made  play. 

Part  of  the  time  there  should  be  "free  play," 
as  with  marbles,  tops,  ball,  without  any  direct 


92  Social  Duties 

drill  or  useful  purpose;  enjoyment  is  itself  use- 
ful, as  all  beauty  is.  In  games,  properly  super- 
vised by  sympathetic  teachers,  children  are 
socialized,  civilized,  Christianized;  they  learn  to 
"play  fair,"  to  obey  rules,  to  check  selfishness,  to 
be  urbane  and  patient,  and  bravely  to  take  hard 
knocks  without  whimpering. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 
Members  of  the  class  may  wish  to  pursue  these  sub- 
jects  still   farther,   and  by  means  of   the   books   cited   in 
references   they   will   be   able   to   do   so.     Such   topics   as 
these  may  be  considered  and   discussed: 

1.  What  are  the  physical  conditions  of  defective  and 
abnormal   children   of   all  the   classes   mentioned? 

2.  What  causes  have  been  at  work  to  produce  these 
defects? 

3.  Are  any  of  these  causes  capable  of  being  diminished 
or  removed,  and  by  what  means  and  methods? 

4.  What  are  the  best  methods  of  educating  children 
in  these  various   special   schools? 

5.  Is  there  need  of  having  special  classes  in  the  com- 
munity where  members  of  the  class  reside? 

6.  Are  school  physicians  or  nurses  appointed  by  your 
school  authorities  to  examine  little  children  when  they 
enter  school  and  discover  whether  they  are  diseased, 
defective,  feeble  minded,  too  slow  and  stupid  to  keep 
up  with  others  in  classes,  and  so  exposed  to  jest  and 
insult  by  other  children?  Is  any  attempt  made  to  treat 
children  who  are  made  stupid  by  growths  in  the  nose 
(adenoids),  obstructions  of  hearing,  defects  of  vision, 
which    might    be    corrected    by    proper    treatment?      Are 


Duties  to  Neglected  Children  93 

there  children  who  have  crooked  backs  or  deformed  feet 
who  might  be  made  stronger  by  treatment  in  a  hospital 
and  by  proper  apparatus?  Have  you  a  corps  of  district 
nurses  moving  about  among  the  poor  to  discover  chil- 
dren thus  affected  with  deformity  or  disease  long  before 
they  are  discovered  by  school  authorities?  Have  the 
physicians  established  schools  where  mothers  can  be 
taught  how  to  feed  and  bathe  their  infants,  and  in  all 
ways  rear  them  in  health  and  strength?  Do  you  know  of 
any  little  children  with  flat  or  deformed  feet  who  might 
be  made  whole  if  taken  to  a  hospital  while  their  bones 
are  pliable? 

7.  Has  your  state  provided  colonies  for  the  feeble 
minded  and  for  epileptics?  Where  are  they?  What  is 
the  law  governing  them?  Are  they  able  to  accommodate 
all  for  whom  admission  is  sought?  Can  you  help  im- 
prove conditions  at  this  point? 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

C.  R.  Henderson,  Dependent,  Defective,  and  Delin- 
quent Classes. 

See  especially,  Homer  Folks,  The  Care  of  Destitute, 
Neglected,  and  Delinquent  Children. 

W.  B.  Forbush,  The  Boy  Problem. 

Work  with  Boys,  a  magazine  ($1.00  a  year,  Thomas 
Chew,  Fall  River,  Mass.). 

Playground,  a  magazine  ($1.00  a  year.  The  Playground 
Association  of  America,  i  Madison  Ave.,  City  of  New 
York). 

Annual  Reports  of  Chicago  Special  Park  Commission, 
and  also  of  Chicago  South   Park  Commissioners. 

C.   Zueblin,  American  Municipal  Progress. 

Articles  by  Sadie  American  and  Charles  Zueblin, 
American  Journal  of  Sociology,  September,   1898. 


CHAPTER  V 
SOCIAL   DUTY   TO   WORKINGMEN 

I.       THE  SCOPE  OF  THE  PROBLEM^ 

I.  Who  are  the  "workingmen"  ?  Do  not  all 
honest  folk  work?  "Workingmen,"  in  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  used  in  this  lesson,  are  those 
members  of  the  community  who,  with  their 
families,  depend  chiefly  or  entirely  on  wages  for 
their  living,  who  do  not  own  the  materials  and 
machinery  with  which  they  labor,  do  not  have  a 
voice  in  government  of  mill  or  factory  or  shop, 
and  have  no  right  at  law  in  the  profits  made. 
Formerly  there  were  comparatively  few  of  this 
social  class ;  now  they  constitute  a  majority  of  the 
population  of  cities  and  are  rapidly  growing  in 
numbers.  In  the  country  the  "farm  hands"  be- 
long to  this  class,  but  they  are  not  yet  relatively 
so  numerous.  Closely  connected  in  interest  with 
industrial  wage-workers  are  those  who  are  em- 
ployed in  mercantile  establishments,  minor  offi- 
cials   who    live    on    small    salaries,    and    even 

*  If  the  leader  of  the  class  desires  to  have  inspiring  biblical 
messages  directly  in  the  spirit  of  this  lesson,  he  will  find  plenty 
of  them  in  both  Old  and  New  Testaments ;  for  example,  in 
Jas.  5 : 1-6 ;  Am.  2:6-7;  5:10-15;  Zech.  7:8-14;  Isa.  3:13 
-15;   10:1-2;  Deut.  24:10-15. 

94 


Duty  to  IVorkingmen  95 

school-teachers,  many  of  whom  receive  lower  in- 
comes than  unskilled  laborers  at  rough  work, 

2.  Why  does  society  owe  any  special  duty  to 
members  of  this  particular  group?  Because  they 
are  in  a  dependent  position ;  they  do  not  own  and 
control  the  factories,  machines  and  raw  materials ; 
they  cannot  give  orders;  they  are  subject  to  dis- 
charge at  any  moment,  with  or  without  reason, 
by  the  employer;  they  have  no  power,  unless 
strongly  united,  to  affect  the  rules  which  govern 
the  conditions  of  health  and  treatment ;  their  very 
bodies  and  minds  have  become  subservient  to 
managers  of  business.  In  the  case  of  the  un- 
skilled laborers,  who  are  the  largest  sub-group  in 
this  class,  the  wages  are  barely  sufficient  to  main- 
tain a  meager  existence  when  work  is  plenty  and 
regular;  without  margin  for  books,  recreation, 
times  of  sickness,  accident,  old  age,  widowhood, 
and  unemployment. 

3.  The  health,  income,  and  culture  of  this  vast 
and  growing  multitude  are  a  national  concern. 
If  these  people  are  sickly  or  weak,  and  industrial 
efficiency  is  lowered,  the  production  of  goods  is 
diminished,  and  the  nation  is  poorer.  If  some 
of  them  are  left  without  income  on  account  of 
accident,  sickness,  old  age,  death  of  the  bread- 
winner, or  unemployment,  they  must  be  supported 
by  public  or  private  charity,  the  cost  of  which  is 


96  Social  Duties 

great  and  the  effect  morally  degrading.  If, 
through  defective  education,  the  children  grow 
up  criminals,  as  many  do,  the  cost  is  still  heavier, 
and  the  moral  evils  wrought  by  vice,  prostitution, 
and  criminal  associations  poison  members  of  all 
social  classes. 

Then  the  much-discussed  "industrial  efficiency" 
of  economists,  though  desirable  to  the  employer 
and  to  the  entire  people,  is  not  the  final  and  high- 
est purpose  of  any  man.  The  "workingman"  is 
first  of  all  just  a  man,  and  his  power  to  produce 
commodities  is  not  the  object  of  his  existence. 
He  has  a  right  to  leisure,  recreation,  family  affec- 
tion, companionship  with  wife  and  children, 
worship,  art,  literature,  music,  and  all  else  that 
is  necessary  to  a  human  life.  And  since  his 
relatively  dependent  position  in  industry  makes 
his  hold  on  genuine  human  life  insecure,  it  is  the 
duty  of  society  to  help  guarantee  his  rights  as 
a  man.  The  right  to  liberty  is  a  mockery  if  it 
does  not  carry  with  it  the  possibility  of  leisure 
and  spiritual  enjoyments. 

4.  What  are  the  chief  elements  of  a  "social 
policy"  in  relation  to  workingmen?  It  is  the 
systematic,  general,  and  purposeful  plan  of  a 
whole  community  to  do  its  duty  to  the  families 
in  this  group.  This  social  purpose  is  of  the  es- 
sence  of    the    idea.      Many   things    incidentally 


Duty  to  Workingmen  97 

benefit  workingmen  which  are  designed  for  all 
citizens,  as  civil  and  penal  law,  ordinary  business 
for  profit,  sanitary  regulations.  But  this  is  not 
a  social  policy  in  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  here 
used.  A  "social  policy"  is  the  systematic  plan 
and  purpose  of  a  whole  society,  not  merely  of 
exceptional  philanthropic  individual  employers 
and  capitalists,  here  and  there.  Philanthropy  is 
a  very  noble  sentiment  but  experience  shows  that 
it  is  capricious,  unreliable,  uncertain  in  practice, 
and  may  at  any  moment  be  withdrawn.  That 
moral  purpose  of  a  whole  people  which  is  ex- 
pressed definitely  in  law  is  most  worthy  of  the 
name  of  a  social  policy.  That  is  the  highest  moral 
achievement  which  is  accepted  by  all  the  people  as 
their  will,  as  expressed  through  their  chosen 
representatives. 

Philanthropic  action  of  rich  individuals  and 
limited  voluntary  associations  or  corporations 
may  well  lead  the  way  in  a  general  movement  and 
may  be  adopted  into  the  wider  scheme.  Some 
remarkably  generous  employers  will  often  go 
farther  than  it  would  be  wise  to  require  by  law, 
but  it  is  still  true  that  such  unusual  action  does 
not  mean  a  social  policy.  Just  here  we  are  able 
to  see  in  a  concrete  situation  the  difference  be- 
tween mere  individual  morality  and  the  larger 
and  highest  social  morality.     That  which  a  rich 


98  Social  Duties 

man  gives  may  exhibit  his  own  individual  virtue; 
but  only  the  act  and  sacrifice  of  all  citizens  in 
bearing  a  common  burden  proves  solidarity,  a 
really  socialized  goodness. 

5.  A  social  policy  is  needed  to  supplement, 
regulate,  and  direct  individual  and  voluntary 
acts  of  generosity.  Individual  power  has  always 
tended  to  become  arbitrary  and  selfish.  Vested 
interests  are  jealous  of  change  and  reluctant  to 
accept  burdens  which  may  possibly  lower  divi- 
dends. The  effort  is  to  shift  burdens  of  cost 
from  one  to  another ;  the  last  man  is  the  working- 
man,  and  he  cannot  shift  his  load  to  others.  He 
is  at  the  bottom.  Each  class  of  society  is  natu- 
rally inclined  to  think,  and  with  clear  conscience, 
that  a  situation  in  which  they  have  become  pros- 
perous and  happy  must  be  in  all  respects  wise, 
reasonable,  and  right.  This  is  just  as  true  of 
wage-workers  as  of  capitalists.  It  is  human  na- 
ture. Each  person  is  tempted  to  regard  facts, 
laws,  customs,  and  results  from  the  standpoint 
of  self-interest. 

If  this  be  a  reasonable  statement  of  the  essen- 
tial facts  of  human  nature,  society  cannot  afford 
to  give  over  the  common  interest  wholly  to  the 
sway  and  control  of  private  interest,  and  leave 
private  parties  to  fight  out  their  differences. 
Society  can  organize  institutions  above  and  inde- 


Duty  to  Workingmen  99 

pendent  of  the  self-interest  of  individuals  and 
classes ;  in  a  legislature  all  interests  may  be  repre- 
sented and  reconciled.  The  legislature  places  the 
universal  interest  over  the  prejudice  and  greed 
of  persons  and  classes  by  establishing  laws  which 
are  of  benefit  to  all  alike  and  by  establishing 
courts  for  the  settlement  of  disputes  without 
private  war.  Civilization  brings  all  clashing  acts 
of  egoism  before  the  common  tribunal  of  a  social 
conscience;  lynch  law  and  mobs  are  indications 
of  a  reversion  to  barbarism  and  the  confusion  of 
frontier  ways. 

No  single  man,  even  if  he  be  at  once  rich  and 
good,  can  accomplish  much  alone.  A  private 
association  lacks  the  power  to  make  a  good 
method  wide  as  the  nation  or  state.  We  must 
learn  to  cultivate  a  higher  form  of  morality,  a 
sense  of  social  obligation  and  co-operation.  This 
morality  demands  not  only  a  finer  sentiment,  but 
a  deeper  thought,  a  wider  knowledge,  a  nobler 
subordination  of  selfishness  to  the  largest  good. 
The  "individualism"  of  which  many  boast  often 
means  no  more  than  "die  you,  live  I ;"  "every  man 
for  himself,  and  the  devil  take  the  hindmost." 
This,  in  its  extreme  form,  is  the  morality  of 
beasts  of  prey  who  hunt  alone.  Each  man  ought 
to  make  the  most  of  himself,  educate  himself, 
care  for  himself  and  his  family,  it  is  true;  but  a 


loo  Social  Duties 

man  who  does  no  more  than  that  and  who  does 
not  enter  into  the  wider  sweep  of  social  goodness 
never  makes  much  of  himself;  he  remains  small 
and  lives  in  a  little  world.  The  typical  "individ- 
ualist" who  remains  egoistic  is  a  criminal.  He 
cannot  be  trusted  abroad. 

II,       ELEMENTS  OF  A  SOCIAL  POLICY 

I.  Protection  against  accidents  and  disease. — 
A  "social  policy"  must  begin  with  protection  of 
workingmen  against  accident  and  disease  and 
temptations  to  immorality  in  factories,  mills,  and 
workshops.  At  this  point  we  simply  summarize 
facts  of  experience  in  all  modern  lands.  When 
most  of  the  people  were  farmers,  and  tools  were 
simple,  the  employer  and  his  "hired  hand"  toiled 
as  companions  side  by  side;  accidents  were  rare 
and  few  causes  of  disease  arose  from  the  nature 
of  the  occupation. 

All  this  has  changed  with  the  introduction  and 
rapid  increase  of  dangerous,  complicated,  steam- 
driven  machinery;  with  the  use  of  live  wires 
charged  with  deadly  currents  of  awful  electric 
power;  with  ponderous  and  swift  trains;  with 
lofty  buildings  where  men  labor  at  a  dizzy  height 
on  frames  of  steel  and  walls  of  stone;  with 
bridges  spanning  swift  rivers  and  dark  gorges; 
with  huge  mills  filled  with  dust,  particles  of  steel 


Duty  to  Workingmen  loi 

and  stone,  the  air  choking  men  with  poisonous 
vapors;  with  pitiless  lathes  gripping  the  hands 
and  merciless  saws  mutilating  fingers  and  arms ; 
with  huge  hammers  falling  with  the  force  of 
many  giants  on  the  helpless  workman,  while 
swinging  cranes  and  bursting  crucibles  spread 
death  everywhere. 

Many  kind  people  do  not  know  these  dangers, 
and  the  law  often  permits  their  concealment. 
But  we  ought  to  know.  It  is  the  business  of 
consumers  to  learn  what  their  good  things  cost 
the  men  who  make  them.^  How  many  good  and 
comfortably  pious  people  have  ever  thought  of 
such  facts  as  these: 

We  are  proud  of  our  President  for  the  part  he  took 
as  international  peacemaker  in  the  late  war  between 
Japan  and  Russia ;  but  it  can  be  shown  that  without 
doubt  the  industrial  army  of  the  United  States  suffers 
50  per  cent,  more  casualties  every  year  than  all  the  killed 
and  wounded  in  both  Russian  and  Japanese  armies, 
and  our  government  has  taken  no  action  in  the  premises, 

^  Here  is  a  field  for  investigation  for  the  class.  Members 
may  visit  rolling-mills,  mines,  quarries,  factories,  and 
study  the  dangers  of  these  places.  When  they  are  halted 
before  the  usual  sign  "No  admission,"  they  can  make  their 
inquiries  of  the  families  of  workmen  who  have  been  hurt,  of 
physicians  who  practice  among  them,  of  pastors  and  nurses 
and  charity  visitors  who  are  familiar  with  the  situation.  In 
the  second  place,  they  can  read  the  descriptions  given  in 
magazines  and  books.  Reports  of  state  factory  inspectors  are 
useful  for  this  purpose. 


I02  Social  Duties 

no  public  meetings  have  been  held,  no  relief  subscrip- 
tions have  been  raised,  and  no  societies  have  been  formed 
for  the  education  of  public  opinion  with  a  view  to  putting 
an  end  to  this  slaughter.  And  all  this  is  true  notwith- 
standing this  blood-letting  is  on  our  own  soil.  In  these 
times  of  profound  peace  there  are  in  the  United  States,  in 
the  course  of  four  years,  80,000  more  violent  deaths  than 
were  suffered  by  both  armies  during  the  four  years  of  our 

Civil  War Facts  are  given  which  indicate  that  the 

7,086,000  persons  engaged  in  manufacturing  and  in  me- 
chanical pursuits  in  this  country  suffer  no  less  than 
344,900  accidents  in  a  year.  If  the  remaining  gainful 
occupations  in  which  some  22,000,000  are  engaged  should 
prove  to  be  only  one-tenth  as  dangerous,  we  should 
have  to  add  to  the  above  list  of  casualties  upward  of 
100,000  more.' 

When  we  add  the  94,000  casualties  in  a  single 
year,  which  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
reports,  it  swells  the  grand  total  to  nearly  550,000. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Many  diseases  are  inevi- 
tably caused  by  the  process  of  industry,  from  dust, 
microbes,  infection,  close  confinement,  exposure 
to  tuberculosis  and  other  communicable  diseases. 
This  means  another  source  of  frightful  waste 
of  strength  and  time  and  death  of  the  bread- 
winners. 

Even  this  is  not  all.  On  the  average  two  or 
three  persons,  wife,  children,  aged  parents,  when 

'See  Social  Service,  August,  1906;  and  Bulletins  75  and 
78,  of  Bureau  of  Labor,  1908. 


Duty  to  Workingmen  103 

thus  deprived  of  their  natural  support,  fall  soon 
into  mental  and  physical  distress,  and  many  of 
them  would  perish  did  they  not  take  refuge  in 
beg-ging  from  house  to  house  or  by  hiding  their 
heads  in  the  poorhouses.  All  the  numbers  must 
be  multiplied  by  two  or  more  to  set  forth  the  full 
extent  of  misery  caused  by  these  casualties  of 
labor.  Workshops  in  hazardous  industries  re- 
semble battlefields. 

A  "social  policy"  must  include  first  a  scheme 
of  protection  against  accidents  and  diseases,  so 
far  as  this  is  possible  by  law,  and  then  indemnity 
or  source  of  income  when  accidents  and  diseases 
which  cannot  be  prevented  have  deprived  the 
workman  and  his  family  of  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence. In  this  article  there  is  room  only  for 
a  brief  outline  of  measures  of  the  first  kind,  pro- 
tection.^ 

A  complete  system  of  labor  laws  would  cover 
all  the  dangers  here  indicated ;  but,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  regulations  in  many  of  our  states  include 
only  a  small  part  of  these.  Some  states  are  far 
more  backward  than  others.  Naturally  the  laws 
and  regulations  ought  to  vary  in  adaptation  to 

*  The  actual  laws  already  in  force  in  the  United  States  may 
be  found  in  the  volume  entitled  Labor  Laws  of  the  United 
States,  Tenth  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor 
(Washington,  1904),  and  in  the  later  Bulletins  of  the  Bureau 
of  Labor. 


I04  Social  Duties 

the  circumstances  of  each  district.  For  example, 
if  a  state  has  no  mines  of  coal  or  metal  ores  or 
quarries  of  stone,  it  does  not  need  mining  laws 
and  organization  of  inspectors  of  mines.  In 
general,  the  following  points  need  to  be  covered 
and  provisions  made  for  their  enforcement. 

2.  The  labor  contract. — The  labor  contract,  by 
which  workmen  enter  service  for  wages,  ought 
to  be  carefully  guarded  by  law.  There  is  need  of 
free  employment  agencies  everywhere  to  make  it 
easy  for  workmen  to  discover  quickly  and  with- 
out cost  the  places  where  they  are  needed,  without 
having  to  pay  large  fees  to  private  concerns  which 
cheat  them  and  do  not  help  them.  Private  em- 
ployment agencies  are  sometimes  respectable,  but 
they  require  careful  supervision  and  must  be 
licensed  by  the  authorities.  Probably  the  ma- 
jority of  such  agencies  in  cities  are  evil,  some  of 
them  active  in  promoting  vice.*^ 

The  law  should  define  such  matters  as  the 
length  of  a  day's  work  and  the  rate  of  wages, 
where  there  is  no  explicit  contract;  so  that  the 
legal  claim  of  the  wage-earner  may  be  fixed  in 
case  of  dispute.  The  duties  and  liabilities  of 
both  parties  in  case  of  cessation  of  employment 
by  leaving  or  discharge  should  be  defined  by  law. 

3.  Payment     of     wages. — The     workingman 

"  See  Francis  A.  Kellor,  Out  of  Work. 


Duty  to  Workingmen  105 

needs  legal  protection  in  respect  to  payment  of 
wages.  Employers  have  at  times  sought  to  op- 
press the  hireling  by  paying  wages  in  inferior 
money,  or  in  "truck,"  or  by  orders  on  stores  in 
which  inferior  goods  are  sold  at  excessive  prices. 
Ordinarily,  the  wages  should  be  paid  in  lawful 
money.  The  place  of  payment  is  also  important. 
It  should  never  be  in  a  saloon  or  other  resort 
where  there  is  a  temptation  to  immorality  and 
excess.  The  poor  man  needs  his  pay  at  frequent 
intervals,  for  he  cannot  wait  long  and  his  credit 
will  not  endure  a  great  strain.  The  law  should 
require  payment  at  least  once  or  twice  a  month. 
Self-interest  has  introduced  frauds  in  the  meas- 
urement of  work  done  and  the  pay  awarded;  and 
so  laws  must  be  made  to  provide  checks  against 
these  indirect  methods  of  stealing  earnings.  An- 
other device  of  selfishness  is  to  get  the  workman 
into  debt,  charge  him  heavy  interest,  and  prac- 
tically take  back  much  of  his  earnings  under 
cover  of  claims  as  creditor.  Fines  are  often 
imposed  and  are  sometimes  necessary  for  shop 
discipline,  but  they  must  be  carefully  restricted 
by  law.  In  order  to  secure  the  payment  of  wages 
the  mechanic  is  frequently  given  a  prior  right,  a 
lien,  on  the  building  or  commodity,  so  that  he 
must  be  paid  whether  his  employer  is  solvent  or 
not. 


io6  Social  Duties 

4.  Protection  of  zuorking  children. — Working 
children®  must  be  protected  in  a  very  special  way. 
They  are  young  and  ignorant  as  well  as  depend- 
ent; manufacturers  are  everywhere  found  willing 
to  employ  them  because  they  do  not  demand  high 
wages  and  will  take  what  is  offered,  and  ignorant 
or  lazy  or  poverty-driven  parents  will  send  them 
to  the  factory  for  the  sake  of  their  little  earnings. 
This  is  evil  and  unnecessary.  Young  children 
need  to  grow  strong  by  play,  and  to  secure  an 
education  at  least  of  an  elementary  character 
before  they  are  set  at  the  steady,  exhausting,  and 
dangerous  tasks  of  the  shop.  The  more  en- 
lightened and  humane  peoples  in  Europe  and 
America  have  already  guarded  against  these 
perils,  which  would  destroy  the  nation  in  its 
weakest  members  if  not  arrested,  by  enacting  laws 
which  forbid  parents  to  permit  their  children  to 
leave  school  until  they  are  fourteen  years  of  age, 
have  reached  a  certain  weight  and  height,  and 
have  enjoyed  the  privileges  of  school  with  the 
acquirement  of  ability  to  read  and  write  and  use 
their  minds.  From  some  employments  children 
are  properly  excluded  under  all  circumstances,  as 
in  occupations  immoral  or  dangerous,  as  acro- 

•  Send  for  the  latest  information  on  the  protection  of  chil- 
dren to  O.  R.  Lovejoy,  secretary  of  the  National  Child  Labor 
Committee,  105  East  Twenty-second  Street,  New  York  City. 


Duty  to  Workingmen  107 

batie  exhibitions,  street  begging,  selling  of  alco- 
hol. Night  work  has  been  found  destructive  of 
the  health  and  morality  of  children.  When  chil- 
dren are  permitted  to  work  for  wages,  as  during 
school  vacations  and  after  the  fifteenth  year  or 
earlier,  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  restrict  the 
length  of  the  work-day,  to  compel  employers  to 
permit  them  to  rest  at  noon,  to  prohibit  under 
penalty  the  appointment  of  foremen  whose  char- 
acter is  unfit  for  contact  with  children,  and  to 
prescribe  the  physical  conditions  which  surround 
the  young  worker. 

5.  Protection  of  working  women. — The  women 
workers  in  factories  and  other  public  places  are 
increasing  in  numbers  in  this  country,  and  will 
be  still  more  numerous  in  the  future.  They  are 
exposed  to  dangers  to  which  men  are  not  liable 
and  for  which  men  are  often  to  blame.  They 
cannot  protect  themselves,  and  the  law  of  our 
country  is  their  proper  defense  against  the  greed 
of  employers,  the  demands  of  an  unreasonable 
public,  and  the  rude  selfishness  of  unprincipled 
men.  In  order  to  care  for  children  to  whom  they 
will  give  birth,  many  girls  and  women  need  to  be 
protected  even  against  the  consequences  of  their 
own  ignorance  and  folly.  On  the  average,  women 
cannot  work  so  many  hours  a  day  nor  so  many 
days  in  the  year  as  men,  yet  they  may  be  driven 


io8  Social  Dxities 

by  custom  and  by  competition  to  consent,  even  at 
cost  of  health,  to  work  long  hours  beyond  their 
strength.  This  is  at  the  cost  of  the  national 
health  and  must  be  prevented.  Law  is  the  only 
method  open.  The  hours  permitted  must  be 
prescribed  by  legal  direction,  the  pauses  for  rest 
must  be  fixed  for  various  employments,  night 
work  in  public  places  prohibited,  and  proper 
facilities  provided  for  those  who  are  fatigued  to 
lie  down  in  a  decent  room  for  temporary  rest. 
Before  and  after  the  time  of  the  birth  of  children 
the  mothers  should  be  prevented  by  regulations 
of  inspectors  from  working  under  conditions 
ruinous  to  their  own  health  and  to  that  of  their 
offspring. 

It  is  a  necessity  of  public  welfare  that  the 
character  and  conduct  of  foremen  in  control  of 
women  and  girl  workers  shall  be  suitable  and 
moral;  that  women  be  forbidden  to  sell  alcoholic 
liquors,  or  be  in  attendance  in  dancing-halls  and 
theaters  where  vice  is  fostered  by  the  very  condi- 
tions. For  a  long  time,  largely  due  to  the  energy 
and  devotion  of  the  great  Christian  statesman 
and  friend  of  the  oppressed,  the  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury, women  have  been  forbidden  to  enter  coal- 
mines and  such  places  where  the  situation  tended 
to  degrade  them  and  the  men.  Our  more  ad- 
vanced  states   require  mercantile   establishments 


Duty  to  Workingmen  109 

to  provide  seats  for  girls  in  their  employ  and  to 
permit  their  use  when  it  is  not  quite  necessary  to 
stand  up  in  order  to  serve  customers.  Health 
and  morality,  as  w^ell  as  aesthetic  considerations, 
require  that  halls  be  lighted,  and  that  separate, 
tidy,  and  sanitary  retiring-rooms  be  provided. 
The  best  employers  have  done  this  voluntarily, 
and  are  glad  to  do  more  than  any  law  will 
demand ;  and  that  which  a  good  employer  will- 
ingly does,  all  others  should  be  compelled  to  do 
or  go  out  of  business.  There  are  enough  bright 
and  capable,  decent  men  in  this  nation  to  make 
all  its  goods  and  sell  them. 

Only  passing  mention  can  be  made  here  of  the 
desirability  of  regulating  the  labor  contracts  of 
foreigners,  the  employment  of  convicts  so  as  to 
avoid  competition  with  free  workmen,  and  the 
special  duty  of  cities  and  states  to  set  an  example 
to  other  employers  by  humane  treatment  of  their 
own  employees.  It  may  be  interjected  that  hu- 
manity and  justice  do  not  ask  of  public  officers 
that  they  permit  the  servants  of  the  public  to 
become  idle  and  negligent,  and  so  cheat  taxpayers 
by  drawing  salaries  without  return  in  service.'^ 

^  Members  of  the  class  may  inquire  and  observe  how  some 
clerks  in  city  halls,  state  houses,  and  other  similar  places 
do  not  work. 


no  Social  Duties 

6.  Factory  and  zvorksJwp  regulations.^ — A 
complete  modern  system  of  regulations  will  cover : 
requirements  relating  to  preserving  health;  the 
important  matters  of  the  soil  over  which  the 
workplace  is  built;  the  space  for  air  within  the 
room,  and  of  light  in  the  openings  of  the  wall ; 
proper  sanitary  arrangements  for  decency  and 
cleanliness;  guarding  against  the  breathing  of 
poisonous  vapors  and  dust,  by  means  of  exhaust 
fans,  veils,  and  other  devices;  places  for  bathing 
in  shops  where  the  skin  is  exposed  to  poisoning; 
suitable  care  of  heat,  cold,  and  ventilation;  and 
where  the  occupation  is  exhausting,  a  limitation 
of  time  for  each  period  of  labor,  so  that  the  body 
may  recover  after  each  period  of  strain. 

It  is  also  necessary  to  command  employers  to 
provide  and  workmen  to  use  devices  to  defend 
their  eyes  from  injury  and  their  limbs  from  mu- 
tilation, as  by  eye-covers,  guards  at  dangerous 
points  of  machinery,  protection  against  fire,  so- 
lidity of  buildings,  and  convenient  fire-escapes, 
elevators,  and  staircases. 

In  the  best  codes  of  state  laws  may  be  found 
the  regulations  for  the  protection  of  life  and  limb 

°  Good  examples  of  such  laws  are  those  of  Massachusetts, 
New  York,  Minnesota,  and  some  others ;  found  in  Labor 
Laws  (1904),  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor.  The  British 
code  is  still  more  complete. 


Duty  to  Workingmen  iii 

in  particular  industries,  as  in  mines,  on  railroads, 
and  in  tenement  houses.  It  is  the  duty  of  every 
citizen,  man  and  woman,  to  know  enough  about 
the  best  codes  and  the  code  of  his  own  state  that 
he  may  help  in  securing  the  best  regulations  for 
every  state,  and  help  see  that  they  are  enforced. 
The  same  principle  holds  in  respect  to  mercantile 
establishments  and  domestic  helpers,  the  work- 
men on  farms,  and  those  engaged  in  building 
operations. 

7.  Protection  of  legal  rights. — Another  part 
of  the  social  policy  of  a  state  must  include  the 
protection  of  workingmen  and  working  women 
in  their  right  to  assemble,  form  unions  to  ad- 
vance their  interests,  just  as  capitalists  always 
have  done,  by  peaceable  and  lawful  persuasion 
and  instruction;  and  at  the  same  time  defend  the 
non-union  workers  from  assault  and  the  property 
of  all  from  injury. 

In  case  of  disputes  over  the  interpretation  of 
the  wages'  contract,  there  is  great  need  of  boards 
of  conciliation  and  arbitration,  and  courts  with 
simple  procedure  and  without  cost  to  the  parties, 
for  decision  of  questions  which  constantly  cause 
irritation  and  hatred.  We  have  outgrown  the 
frontier  method  of  settling  disputes  by  fighting  in 
the  street,  and  such  methods  cannot  be  tolerated ; 
therefore  an  impartial  and  public  tribunal  is  neces- 


112  Social  Duties 

sary  to  arbitrate  between  the  interested  parties, 
who  are  apt  to  be  blinded  by  self-interest. 

A  civilized,  not  to  say  a  Christian,  community 
will  insist  on  weekly  periods  of  rest  for  all  classes 
of  workers  as  a  condition  of  national  health. 
After  long  neglect  Germany  and  France  have  at 
last  introduced  rather  strict  regulations  on  this 
subject  in  order  to  promote  national  vigor  and 
power. 

8.  Industrial  insurance. — The  subject  of  insur- 
ance of  workingmen  and  the  provision  for  sup- 
port in  times  of  sickness,  accident,  unemployment, 
invalidism,  and  old  age,  or  death  of  bread-winner, 
cannot  be  more  than  mentioned  in  this  place. 
For  a  hundred  years  modern  peoples  tried  to 
depend  on  individual  initiative  to  secure  the 
poorer  workmen  in  such  situations,  and  every 
effort  has  failed.  Nothing  short  of  state  regula- 
tion and  organization  has  succeeded  in  any  coun- 
try. America  has  been  very  slow  to  recognize  this 
fact,  but  seems  just  now  to  be  awakening  to  the 
demand  for  a  form  of  insurance  required  by 
persons  on  small  and  uncertain  incomes,  and 
cheap  enough  for  them  to  buy.  There  is  a  move- 
ment in  the  United  States  to  promote  this  needed 
agency  of  the  public  welfare,  for  it  will  not  do 
to  leave  the  laborers  to  their  fate  and  to  offer 
them  alms  when  they  ought  to  have  a  just  claim 


Duty  to  Workingmen  113 

on  a  fund  to  which  they  have  contributed  and  can 
use  in  need  without  shame  or  disgrace. 

9.  Provisions  for  the  higher  life. — This  social 
policy  in  the  interest  of  the  workingmen  includes 
far  more  than  protection  of  life,  limb,  and  health. 
If  the  reader  will  turn  back  to  the  first  chapter 
in  this  book,  he  may  find  there  proof  that  hu- 
manity demands,  not  only  health  and  income,  but 
the  goods  of  highest  civilization — culture,  art, 
religion.  Social  morality  is  not  satisfied  until 
every  member  of  the  community  has  a  chance  to 
enjoy  every  kind  of  good  which  the  richest  can 
enjoy.  And  this  is  quite  possible.  The  best 
goods  are  not  costly,  for  automobiles  and  display 
of  jewels  are  not  at  all  the  best  things  in  life; 
while  love,  pictures,  music,  and  religion  are  of 
the  highest,  and  by  co-operation  of  all  may  be 
brought  so  near  to  every  citizen  and  youth  that 
they  will  provoke  desire  to  possess  them  all.  It 
is  the  moral  and  religious  duty  of  a  city,  of  a 
state,  and  of  the  nation  to  furnish  the  agencies  of 
such  co-operation ;  for  it  is  utterly  impossible  for 
any  individual  to  secure  them  for  himself  without 
joining  hands  with  all  others.  In  this  lesson  we 
have  considered  chiefly  those  measures  which  are 
absolutely  necessary  to  protect  life  itself;  but  we 
must  proceed  to  consider  methods  by  which  the 
entire  community  can  act  together  to  enrich  life 


£14  Social  Duties 

thus  preserved,  and  to  make  it  grandly,  nobly 
human.  This  part  of  the  subject  is  so  wide  that 
it  must  be  reserved  for  special  discussion.  Man 
cannot  live  without  bread,  but  he  cannot  truly  live 
by  bread  alone. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 
These  have  been  sufficiently  indicated  by  the  titles 
of  the  sections  of  this  chapter.  But  in  some  classes  dis- 
cussions may  arise  over  trade-unions,  injunctions,  treat- 
ment of  non-union  workmen,  a  just  wage,  Sunday  rest, 
and  many  others.  Probably,  however,  the  topics  suggested 
in  the  chapter  will  be  enough  for  the  discussions  of 
many  meetings.  The  class  should  remember  the  adage : 
"Truth  is  a  precious  pearl  which  divers  can  find  only 
in  calm  water."  When  temper  comes  in,  reason  departs. 
A  Christian  should  be  willing  to  hear  all  sides  fairly 
and  soberly. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

J.  G.  Brooks,  Social  Unrest. 

W.   E.   Willoughby,    Workingmen's  Insurance. 

C.  R.  Henderson,  Social  Elements,  and  Industrial  In- 
surance in  the  United  States. 

C.  Gide,  Principles  of  Political  Economy  (or  some 
other  elementary  work  on  the  subject,  as  R.  T.  Ely, 
Outlines  of  Economics). 

G.  L.  Bolen,  Getting  a  Living. 

Florence  Kelley,  Some  Ethical  Gains  through  Legisla- 
tion. 

Hodder,  Life  of  Shaftesbury. 

Bulletins  of  Association  for  Labor  Legislation,  J.  R. 
Commons,  Secretary,  Madison,  Wisconsin. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SOCIAL  DUTIES  IN  RURAL  COMMUNITIES 
I.       CHARACTERISTICS    OF    RURAL    PROBLEMS 

Most  of  the  discussions  familiar  to  readers  of 
literature  of  social  problems  relate  chiefly  to  the 
conditions  of  city  life.  The  reasons  for  this  fact 
are  obvious.  Authors  and  journalists  generally 
reside  in  cities  or  large  towns  and  they  write 
about  the  experiences  which  immediately  affect 
them.  The  more  startling  and  sensational  evils 
are  revealed  in  cities;  there  poverty  is  most  dis- 
tressing, vice  most  hideous,  crime  most  terrible, 
class  struggles  most  fierce,  the  contrast  of  luxury 
and  want  most  alarming  and  exasperating;  there 
colossal  fortunes  tower  above  mean  beggary, 
there  monumental  office  buildings  look  down  on 
crowded  warrens  of  toilers  and  immigrants.  The 
rapid  growth  of  cities  in  recent  times  has  thrust 
innumerable  and  vexatious  problems  of  govern- 
ment and  industry  into  our  faces  and  brought  men 
to  a  crisis  where  questions  cannot  be  adjourned, 
where  issues  of  life  and  death  must  be  met  by 
instant  action.  Therefore  social  problems  are 
generally  supposed  to  be  only  those  of  huge 
aggregations  of  population. 

And  even  of  late,  since  the  improvement  of 
"5 


ii6  Social  Duties 

conditions  in  the  country  has  become  the  object 
of  more  general  interest,  the  problems  of  rural 
society  are  not  always  worthily  stated  for  con- 
sideration. This  judgment  is  the  result  of  an 
impression  made  by  the  reading  of  a  very  large 
number  of  volumes  and  documents  issued  by  the 
great  government  departments  of  agriculture,  by 
institutions  of  education,  and  by  writers  of  high 
authority  on  rural  subjects.  We  need,  in  further 
discussion  of  social  duties  under  rural  conditions, 
to  give  a  larger  and  worthier  place  to  the  ultimate 
values  of  life  in  relation  to  agriculture.^  The 
defect  in  much  that  has  been  written  about  social 
life  in  the  country  is  the  relatively  too  great 
emphasis  placed  upon  the  wealth  interest,  on  the 
industry  of  the  farmer;  he  is  treated  too  much 
as  if  he  were  merely  a  producer  of  certain  com- 
modities, merely  a  beast  of  burden  like  his  patient 
oxen.  It  is  too  often  assumed  that  the  only 
scientific  interest  is  in  the  larger  production  of 
corn,  of  milk  and  meat,  of  wool  and  cotton. 

Therefore,  in  studying  the  moral  obligations  of 
a  rural  neighborhood,  we  must  begin  with  the 
conception  that  the  chief  task  of  the  farmer  lies 
in  the  development  of  human  personalities,  in  the 
cultivation  of  spiritual  powers,  in  enriching  the 

*  Here  again,  to  avoid  repetition,  the  reader  is  requested  to 
keep  in  mind  the  analysis  of  social  ends  in  the  first  chapter. 


1 
J 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  117 

permanent  self,  and  in  sharing  the  highest  goods 
of  civilization  on  the  widest  possible  scale.  It 
is  here  assumed  that  the  student  has  gained  and 
holds  this  point  of  view,  has  already  come  to 
believe  that  a  farmer  has  right  to  a  full  human 
life,  to  all  that  is  essentially  good,  and  that  it  is 
his  duty  to  further  this  kind  of  life  in  the  com- 
munity. The  worth  and  value  of  these  ends  being 
assumed  for  our  purpose,  we  have  here  to  con- 
sider some  of  those  modes  of  conduct  and  those 
forms  of  institutional  activity  which  are  adapted 
to  promote  the  accepted  ends.  This  is  the  kind  of 
conduct  which  alone  can  deserve  the  name  of 
social  morality.  Exhaustive  treatment  is  not  here 
possible;  the  aim  is  limited  to  provoking  investi- 
gation and  indicating  the  way  in  which  sound 
moral  judgments  can  best  be  formed. 

II.       SOCIAL    CONDITIONS    OF    RURAL    WELFARE 

ORDER,   LIBERTY,  AND  OPPORTUNITY 

I.  Order. — It  is  too  generally  admitted  to  re- 
quire proof,  that  civilization  cannot  move  for- 
ward where  life  and  property  are  insecure,  where 
the  strong-armed  robber  snatches  away  from  the 
toiler  the  products  of  peaceful  toil,  where  selfish 
and  sensual  men  can  gratify  base  appetites  with- 
out restraint,  where  each  man  must  go  armed  to 
his  work  and  fortify  his  home.  Obviously  the  first 


ii8  Social  Duties 

duty  of  a  community  is  to  establish  and  maintain 
order.  And  since  the  local  hamlet  or  township 
or  isolated  neighborhood  is  often  unable  to  guard 
its  fields,  houses,  treasures,  and  merchandise,  the 
commonwealth  must  come  to  its  aid  with  superior 
force.  In  some  civilized  countries  a  body  of 
mounted  police,  under  the  direction  of  the  chief 
officers  of  the  state,  patrol  roads  and  lanes,  while 
detectives  follow  thieves  and  other  suspected  per- 
sons and  bring  them  to  justice.  Here  let  the 
student  consider  whether  a  rural  police  patrol 
would  not  make  the  life  of  farmers,  especially  of 
the  women,  more  secure.  What  is  the  duty  of 
the  people  of  a  state  to  the  scattered  persons  who 
are  kept  in  constant  dread  of  vicious  tramps  and 
vagabonds,  both  white  and  black,  who  fill  many 
rural  homes  with  terror?  When  the  police  and 
courts  fail  to  protect  life  and  property,  men  are 
driven  to  resort  to  some  form  of  lynch  law,  and 
this  is  wasteful  and  demoralizing.  The  class 
might  well  discuss  this  word  of  Professor  Fairlie 
and  test  it  by  further  inquiry  into  the  facts : 

A  long  line  of  judicial  decisions  has  clearly  estab- 
lished the  rule  of  law  in  this  country,  that  locally  ap- 
pointed police  officers  are  not,  strictly  speaking,  local 
officers,  but  are  agents  of  the  state  governments  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  public  peace  and  order.  In  spite  of 
this  legal  theory,  there  has  been  developed  no  effective 
state  administrative  control  in  this  important  branch  of 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  119 

local  government.  Some  occasional  and  haphazard  steps 
have  been   taken   in  many   states  but   no   systematic   and 

permanent    machinery    has    been    established Some 

supervision  could  be  easily  established  by  making  the 
sheriffs  more  clearly  responsible  for  police  conditions  in 
the  local  districts  within  their  counties  and  requiring 
them  to  make  regular  reports  to  the  governor  or  to  some 
other  state  officer.  To  this  might  be  added  a  regular  in- 
spection of  the  sheriffs  in  each  state Like  the  state 

supervision  established  in  other  lines,  they  would  im- 
prove the  work  of  local  authorities.  In  a  few  states 
there  have  been  established  small  bodies  of  state  police 
for  service  throughout  the  state. 

2.  Liberty. — The  maintenance  of  order  should 
be  discriminating  or  it  will  repress  freedom.  The 
soul  of  man  must  have  room  to  think  and  his 
body  room  to  act.  An  entire  community  some- 
times becomes  narrow,  bigoted,  selfish,  blind,  and 
in  the  name  of  order  turns  tyrant  and  puts  out 
the  light  of  science,  chokes  its  best  prophets. 
Only  immoral  and  injurious  citizens  should  walk 
in  chains,  and  even  they  should  be  taught  grad- 
ually to  use  liberty  wisely.  We  boast  of  being 
"the  land  of  the  free"  because  our  fathers  have 
fought  the  battle  of  religious,  civil,  and  social 
freedom  for  us.  No  longer  is  a  man  imprisoned 
or  burned  for  his  opinions  in  politics  or  theology. 
Yet  many  are  not  aware  that  in  this  very  home 
of  liberty  there  are  large  districts  where  a  young 
physician  dare  not  speak  or  write  what  he  has 


120  Social  Duties 

learned  in  schools  of  science  without  incurring 
a  boycott  of  the  church  and  consequent  starvation, 
and  where  the  teacher  of  biology  in  a  high  school 
is  tempted  to  play  the  hypocrite  to  retain  his 
chance  to  earn  his  living.  There  are  many  ways 
by  which  pious  men  suffocate  the  life  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  man,  and  think  sincerely  they  are  doing 
God  service,  and  this  condition  is  more  frequently 
found  in  villages  than  in  cities.  An  intellectually 
dead  hamlet  knows  more  ways  of  tormenting  a 
man  who  is  too  big  for  it  than  the  Inquisition  of 
Spain  ever  devised.  This  does  not  stop  discus- 
sion, but  it  forces  young  men  and  women  of  talent 
to  fly  from  the  country  and  take  refuge  in  towns 
where  they  are  free  even  if  poor.  Many  of  the 
most  relentless  persecutors  in  past  ages  have  been 
conscientious  and  religious.  Criminals  disturb 
order,  and  saints  sometimes  are  foes  to  liberty, 
and  the  majority  of  good  folks  seem  to  care  more 
for  quiet  than  for  truth. 

3.  Opportunity. — It  is  the  duty  of  a  com- 
munity not  only  to  protect  order  and  grant  reason- 
able freedom  but  also  to  furnish  opportunity  for 
all  citizens  to  enter  into  life.  A  boy  may  be  free 
to  go  where  he  will,  but  if  he  is  not  educated  he 
remains  a  dwarf  and  starveling.  Let  members 
of  the  class  look  about  them  and  discover  in- 
stances of  children  growing  up  mutilated  in  soul 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  121 

as  they  may  be  starved  in  body.  There  are  entire 
townships  where  not  one  family  has  any  incentive 
to  do  more  than  satisfy  animal  wants,  although 
the  soil  is  rich  and  the  climate  favorable.  This 
is  because  they  are  cut  off  from  centers  of  culture, 
as  schools,  churches,  and  means  of  information. 

There  must  be  equality  of  opportunity  in 
respect  to  rights  before  the  law,  right  to  influence 
legislators,  to  serve  the  public  according  to  ability, 
to  move  about  in  public  places,  to  enjoy  sanitary 
conditions  of  living,  to  have  means  of  recreation 
and  culture,  to  send  children  to  free  schools,  to 
be  protected  in  relations  of  employer  and  em- 
ployed, to  be  treated  with  courtesy,  whether  rich 
or  poor,  and  to  share  in  general  good  will.^  In 
this  connection  may  be  studied  the  value  of  a 
state  system  of  free  public  schools,  under  central 
direction  and  supervision;  of  federation  and  co- 
operation of  churches  in  a  state  in  order  to  pre- 
vent waste  of  means,  and  to  provide  educational 
facilities  for  all  citizens;  of  the  national  postal 
system  as  a  means  of  extension  of  means  of 
knowledge;  of  means  of  transportation,  electric 
lines  and  improved  roads.^ 

^  Giddings,  Elements  of  Sociology,  p.  328. 

'  Problems  of  government  in  rural  townships  are  ably 
discussed  by  J.  A.  Fairlie,  Local  Government  in  Counties, 
Tozvns  and  Villages. 


122  Social  Duties 

III.       CARE  OF  PUBLIC  HEALTH  IN  RURAL 
COMMUNITIES 

I.  Conditions  of  health. — These  are  generally 
more  favorable  in  the  country  than  in  the  city: 
the  light  may  fall  into  every  room,  and  at  work 
sunshine  plays  over  the  body.  The  air  is  purer, 
and  exercise  outside  walls  is  part  of  the  daily 
order  of  work.  There  is  freedom  from  unnatural 
and  perpetual  excitement,  noise,  strain,  close  and 
superheated  theaters,  enticements  to  low  vice,  open 
saloons,  and  gambling-places. 

But  even  in  rural  neighborhoods  there  is  much 
preventable  disease  due  to  removable  causes :  im- 
proper food,  neglect  of  ventilation,  exposure  to 
contagious  and  infectious  disease,  pollution  of 
water  and  milk,  injection  of  fever  germs  by 
insects,  drains  from  kitchen  reeking  with  poison. 
And  there  are  causes  of  sickness  which  are  only 
in  part  under  human  control :  the  hardship  of 
labor  especially  at  certain  seasons,  exposure  to 
severe  weather  and  extremes  of  temperature, 
worry  incident  to  uncertainty  of  crops,  the  de- 
struction of  growing  crops  and  cattle  by  the 
enemies  of  the  farmer.  To  this  one  must  add 
distance  from  physicians  in  emergencies,  the  want 
of  nursing,  and  occasionally  the  improper  physical 
habits  of  ignorance  and  the  vices  of  human 
nature. 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  123 

2,  Ameliorating  methods. — These  may  be 
found,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  each  community  to 
discover  and  adopt  such  methods  as  experience 
approves.  Illustrations  may  give  hints  to  spur 
members  of  the  class  to  further  inquiry. 

a)  In  the  best  schools  instruction  is  given  to 
children  in  relation  to  the  structure  and  functions 
of  the  human  body,  anatomy,  physiology,  hygiene, 
house  sanitation,  cooking,  foods,  and  first  aid  to 
the  sick  and  injured. 

b)  But  the  instruction  of  childhood  is  not 
enough,  and  young  people  need  to  continue  their 
studies  by  means  of  lectures,  classes,  and  books 
carefully  chosen  by  experts  and  not  recommended 
by  traveling  peddlers.  In  several  states  the  meet- 
ings of  farmers'  institutes,  under  the  direction  of 
experts  in  state  agricultural  colleges  and  with  the 
aid  of  competent  physicians,  have  done  a  valuable 
service.  The  talk  and  practice  of  the  farm  neces- 
sarily touch  upon  laws  of  health  of  animals,  and 
occasionally  greater  care  is  given  to  domestic 
animals  than  to  the  family  itself. 

c)  A  significant  movement  is  that  to  secure 
better  hospital  facilities  and  nursing  in  the  coun- 
try. In  at  least  the  chief  county  town  there 
ought  to  be  a  public  hospital  for  the  treatment  of 
medical  and  surgical  cases  which  cannot  so  well 
be  treated  at  home.     These  local  hospitals  also 


124  Social  Duties 

become  training  schools  for  nurses,  the  supply 
of  whom  is  woefully  scant  in  many  parts  of  the 
land.  It  seems  entirely  possible  to  provide  visit- 
ing nurses  who  may  go  from  house  to  house 
showing  mothers  and  daughters  how  to  care  for 
their  sick,  to  make  beds,  prepare  special  diet,  dress 
sores  and  wounds,  feed  infants,  and  a  thousand 
things  for  which  a  physician  has  no  time  and 
which  only  a  carefully  trained  nurse  knows  how 
to  do.  In  cities  such  nurses  are  sent  by  benevolent 
societies  among  the  poor  with  great  advantage. 
The  only  difficulty  is  that  too  many  people  are  so 
ignorant  of  modern  nursing  that  they  imagine 
there  is  nothing  to  learn,  and  in  that  state  of  mind 
nothing  is  learned.  Telephones  and  trolley  lines 
are  gradually  improving  medical  service  outside 
the  towns. 

d)  There  is  more  and  more  need  of  extending 
the  authority  and  activity  of  the  state  boards  of 
health  into  every  township  of  each  state.  There 
ought  to  be  a  systematic  supervision  of  the  condi- 
tions of  health  and  the  causes  of  disease  by  some 
central  authority  so  that  not  one  district  can  be 
overlooked.  Examples  of  what  may  be  accom- 
plished may  be  cited :  the  notification  of  conta- 
gious diseases,  as  scarlet  fever,  diphtheria,  mea- 
sles, etc.,  by  placarding  and  prohibition  of  sending 
to  school  without  medical  permission.    The  disin- 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  125 

fection  of  houses  and  clothing  ought  to  be  insured 
by  vigilant  officials  responsible  to  the  state.  The 
means  of  transportation,  now  becoming  more 
public,  should  be  brought  under  systematic  con- 
trol. Vaccination  must  be  made  certain  and  not 
left  to  the  whims  and  superstitions  of  the  ignor- 
ant. Careful  supervision  of  persons  afflicted  with 
tuberculosis  should  be  part  of  the  duty  of  local 
officers  responsible  to  the  state.  It  is  important 
that  dairies  should  be  inspected  and  made  sanitary 
not  only  in  the  interest  of  town  customers  but 
even  more  in  the  interest  of  dairymen  and  farm- 
ers. The  bacteria  which  kill  customers  are  not 
apt  to  spare  the  owners  of  a  filthy  stable.  If  the 
water  used  to  wash  the  milk  vessels  or  to  dilute 
the  milk  for  weak  city  stomachs  is  from  a  foul 
source  it  may  punish  the  culprit  who  carelessly 
and  wickedly  uses  it  to  wrong  another.  In  the 
inspection  of  adulterated  foods  and  medicines 
kept  for  sale  to  farmers  it  is  not  difficult  to  dis- 
cover the  advantage  to  the  farmer. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  to  the  immediate  financial 
advantage  of  farmers  to  send  young  calves  to 
market  before  they  are  fit  for  human  food,  or 
even  to  ship  diseased  chickens,  hogs,  and  cattle; 
but  no  community  can  long  tolerate  such  dis- 
honesty and  injurious  conduct  without  inward 
debasement  of  character.     And  since  local  and 


126  Social  Duties 

personal  agents  cannot  be  trusted,  every  man  who 
sincerely  desires  to  promote  morality  should 
endeavor  to  secure  complete  state  supervision  and 
control  of  all  food  materials.  In  the  long  run  no 
community  can  secure  the  best  prices  in  the 
market  if  it  once  gains  reputation  for  indiffer- 
ence to  the  health  of  customers,  if  it  becomes 
known  for  its  dishonesty  and  recklessness  of 
health  and  life.  If  its  evil  ways  are  due  more  to 
ignorance  than  to  meanness,  then  a  community 
should  import  experts  competent  to  show  what 
is  right  and  wrong  in  the  occupation  which  affects 
the  physical  welfare  of  the  nation  and  its  credit 
in  foreign  markets. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

I.  P.  Roberts,  The  Farmstead,  chaps,  vi,  x,  xii,  xiv. 
H.    B.    Bashore,    M.D.,    The   Sanitation    of   a    Country 
House. 

Also  books   on  hygiene  already  mentioned. 

[V.       DUTIES  OF  RURAL  COMMUNITIES  IN  RELATION 
TO  INDUSTRY  AND  WEALTH 

I.  Decisive  factors  in  the  situation. — To  dis- 
cover moral  obligations  men  must  not  merely 
inspect  their  inner  selves,  but  the  real  facts  out- 
side; must  study  not  merely  ancient  wisdom  but 
the  stern  teachings  of  present  experience.  What 
are  some  of  the  facts  which  determine  the  direc- 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  127 

tion  of  activity  in  farming  regions?  Only  a 
brief  hint  here  is  possible. 

a)  The  population  of  the  nation  depends  on 
agriculture  and  its  products — farmers,  urban 
dwellers,  merchants,  professional  persons — all. 
The  primary  industry,  basis  of  all  other  social 
life,  is  that  of  farming.  If  the  rural  population 
went  on  a  general  and  sympathetic  strike  for  one 
season,  famine  would  stalk  in  the  cities.  Assum- 
ing that  life  is  good,  and  to  support  existence  a 
primal  duty,  we  have  the  foundation  of  obliga- 
tion in  this  situation. 

h)  Agriculture  rests  most  obviously  on  na- 
ture's gifts,  or,  speaking  with  the  religious  accent, 
on  the  direct  gift  of  God.  The  soil,  climate,  and 
seasons  fix  the  limits  of  possible  production  in  a 
nation.  But  as  this  is  a  matter  which  man  cannot 
control  we  may  more  profitably  turn  to  facts 
which  rest  on  human  conduct  and  for  which  men 
are  responsible. 

c)  We  have  seen  above  that  health  is  a  duty 
and  here  we  come  to  the  connection  between  pro- 
duction of  good  things  and  the  vital  energy  which 
springs  from  health.  A  strong,  well-fed,  clean, 
sober  people  can  and  will  do  more  to  feed  and 
clothe  the  nation,  and  make  family,  school, 
church,  and  government  prosperous,  than  a  feeble 
and  sickly  folk. 


128  Social  Duties 

The  social  conditions  of  production  are  se- 
curity of  person  and  property,  freedom  to  move 
and  act,  and  opportunity  to  make  the  most  of 
our  powers.  The  intelligence  of  the  rural  popu- 
lation is  a  national  asset,  and  especially  that  kind 
of  intelligence  which  is  concerned  with  the  sci- 
ences and  arts  which  quicken  thought,  train 
observation,  and  prepare  the  tiller  of  the  soil  to 
make  it  yield  the  largest  possible  product. 

The  life  of  the  nation  depends  on  the  industry 
of  those  who  occupy  the  tillable  land.  He  who 
knows  and  yet  stands  idle  will  forget  where  he 
hid  his  talent  in  a  napkin.  Disposition  to  work 
steadily  must  be  a  social  trait,  common  as  hunger, 
or  again  famine  snarls  at  the  door.  We  might 
as  well  dwell  on  Sahara  sands  as  on  fertile 
prairies,  if  the  people  are  loafers.  Fortunately 
for  idlers,  most  men  are  willing  to  toil.  Industry 
is  not  merely  a  habit  which  benefits  the  worker; 
it  has  a  social  aspect  and  thus  becomes  moral. 

2.  Value  of  natural  and  social  science. — At 
this  stage  of  our  study  we  come  in  sight  of  the 
vast  field  of  natural  science  and  of  the  social 
sciences.  No  men  are  so  dependent  for  their  best 
success  and  usefulness  on  a  wide  range  of  knowl- 
edge as  farmers,  unless  it  is  editors.  To  take 
only  a  few  illustrations:  successful  discharge  of 
duty  on  the  farm  depends  on  knowledge  of  the 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  lag 

elements  of  soil  on  which  plants  are  nourished, 
and  this  means  chemistry.  Stock  raisers  deal 
with  various  kinds  of  animals  and  must  learn 
about  selection  of  stock,  nutrition,  health,  and 
disease,  heredity  and  habit;  and  this  means  biol- 
ogy, botany,  physiology,  hygiene.  The  making 
of  roads,  ditches,  bridges,  dikes,  buildings,  in- 
volves laws  of  physics.  Even  to  make  a  catalogue 
of  the  kinds  of  knowledge  a  farmer  needs  would 
require  a  pamphlet. 

It  follows  as  day  follows  night,  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  a  rural  community  to  educate  itself,  and 
as  the  soil  wears  out  with  bearing  crops  to  make 
modem  science  perform  for  us  the  miracle  of 
rendering  worn-out  soil  more  productive  than 
virgin  soil.  The  great  Lincoln  saw  this  need, 
and  in  the  throes  of  civil  war  moved  to  establish 
agricultural  colleges  whose  growth  has  been  a 
blessing  to  mankind.  Under  the  next  head  we 
shall  attend  to  the  agencies  of  education  in  rural 
communities. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

Wilcox  and  Smith,  Farmers'  Cyclopedia  of  Agricul- 
ture (1905). 

L.  H.  Bailey,  Cyclopedia  of  American  Agriculture,  4 
vols.  This  work  treats  agricultural  regions,  organiza- 
tion of  farms,  environment  of  the  life  of  animals  and 
of  men,  crops,  animals,  and  the  social  aspects  and  human 
interests  of  farmers. 


ijo  Social  Duties 

F.  W.  Woll,  Handbook  for  Fanners  and  Dairymen, 
gives  numerous  references  to  the  rich  literature  of  the 
agricultural  •professions. 

H.  C.  Taylor,  Agricultural  Economics,  gives  the  eco- 
nomic principles  of  agricultural  industry  and  trading. 

G.  T.  Fairchild,  Rural   Wealth  and   Welfare. 

L.  H.  Bailey,  The  Principles  of  Agriculture,  and  The 
State  and  the  Farmer. 

The  sociological  literature  is  meager. 

The  intimate  relation  between  morality  and  daily  prac- 
tice is  suggested  by  the  following  circular : 

farmers'    co-operative   demonstration    work    u.    s.    depart- 
ment OF  agriculture 

At  an  early  period  it  was  found  necessary  to  evolve  from 
the  mass  of  ethical  teaching,  a  few  general  rules  for  living, 
called  "The  Ten  Commandments,"  by  which  a  man  could  be 
moral  without  going  through  a  course  in  theology.  Just  so,  in 
order  to  instruct  the  average  farmer  how  successfully  to 
conduct  his  farm  operations  so  as  to  secure  a  greater  net 
gain  from  the  farm,  it  is  necessary  first  to  deduce  from  the 
mass  of  agricultural  teachings  a  few  general  rules  of  pro- 
cedure. They  are  called  "The  Ten  Commandments  of 
Agriculture,"  by  the  practice  of  which  a  man  may  be  a  good 
farmer  in  any  state  without  being  a  graduate  from  a  college 
of  agriculture. 

The  Ten  Commandments  of  Agriculture 

1.  Prepare  a  deep  and  thoroughly  pulverized  seed  bed,  well 
drained;  break  in  the  fall  to  the  depth  of  8,  lo,  or  12  inches, 
according  to  the  soil,  with  implements  that  will  not  bring  too 
mnch  of  the  subsoil  to  the  surface  (the  foregoing  depths 
should  be  reached  gradually). 

2.  Use  seed  of  the  best  variety,  intelligently  selected  and 
carefully  stored. 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  131 

3.  In  cultivated  crops,  give  the  rows  and  the  plants  in  the 
rows  a  space  suited  to  the  plant,  the  soil,  and  the  climate. 

4.  Use  intensive  tillage  during  the  growing  period  of  the 
crops. 

5.  Secure  a  high  content  of  humus  in  the  soil  by  the  use 
of  legumes,  barnyard  manure,  farm  refuse,  and  commercial 
fertilizers. 

6.  Carry  out  a  systematic  crop  rotation  with  a  winter  cover 
crop  on  southern   farms. 

7.  Accomplish  more  work  in  a  day  by  using  more  horse- 
power and  better  implements. 

8.  Increase  the  farm  stock  to  the  extent  of  utilizing  all  the 
waste  products  and  idle  lands  of  the  farm. 

9.  Produce  all  the  food  required  for  the  men  and  animals 
on  the  farm. 

10.  Keep  an  account  of  each  farm  product,  in  order  to 
know  from  which  the  gain  or  loss  arises. 

S.  A.  Knapp 
Washington,  D.  C. 
July,  1908 

V.       DUTIES  OF  A  RURAL  COMMUNITY  IN  RELATION 
TO   SPIRITUAL   CULTURE 

We  have  spoken  of  agriculture  and  now  we 
must  give  heed  to  the  greater  matter  of  human 
culture,  which  is  after  all  the  ultimate  form  of 
all  culture.  Man  makes  himself  better  by  improv- 
ing the  earth  if  he  uses  science  as  means  and 
morality  as  way. 

I.  Education  in  the  family. — Here  we  may 
refer  to  those  works  on  education  v.'hich  treat  of 
the  development  of  young  children.  We  may 
note  the  fact  that  in  the  country  family  life  has  a 


132  Social  Duties 

relatively  larger  place  in  education  than  in  the 
city  where  other  influences  play  upon  the  child 
very  early.  In  the  country  home  parents  have 
their  children  much  to  themselves  without  ex- 
ternal distractions,  and  children  soon  begin  to 
imitate  and  assist  in  the  serious  occupations  of 
their  elders.  No  city  child  has  such  a  chance 
through  infancy  and  early  life  to  come  into  con- 
tact with  nature  in  all  her  moods  and  aspects. 
All  crafts  are  plied  in  simple  form,  domestic  ani- 
mals are  about  the  home,  plants  are  the  constant 
subject  of  conversation,  birds  sing  in  the  trees, 
flowers  blossom  everywhere,  and  the  muscles  of 
the  body  are  called  into  exercise  without  artificial 
apparatus.  But  to  make  the  best  use  of  these  fine 
advantages  the  community  must  furnish  to  par- 
ents instruction  in  the  principles  of  education,  so 
that  each  father  and  each  mother  may  become  an 
efficient  teacher. 

2.  The  rural  school. — The  problem  of  the  kind 
of  school  that  a  rural  community  needs  has  re- 
ceived of  late  the  attention  its  importance  de- 
serves. One  of  the  most  attractive  and  inspiring 
books  thus  affirms  the  ideal  of  a  practical  organi- 
zer of  better  methods: 

If  I  were  to  formulate  an  educational  creed  for  tlie 
country  school,  it  would  contain  but  two  articles  namely: 
(i)   the  country  child  is  entitled  to  every  whit  as  good 


Duties  in  Rural  Couimujiilics  133 

an  educational  opportunity  as  that  enjoyed  by  the  most 
favored  city  child  attending  the  American  public  school ; 
(2)  to  secure  this  right  for  the  country  child  the  country 
people  must  expend  more  money  on  the  country  school 
and  expend  it  in  a  better  way. 

Only  a  few  points  can  be  suggested  for  study  : 
The  rural  school  should  furnish  careful  and 
modern  guidance  in  the  care  of  health;  it  should, 
as  all  admit,  teach  thoroughly  the  arts  of  reading, 
writing,  and  keeping  accounts,  and  so  give  the 
key  to  all  treasures  of  knowledge ;  it  should  open 
the  eyes  of  the  children  to  the  myriads  of  inter- 
esting and  beautiful  objects  which  surround  them ; 
it  should  lead  them  to  become  interested  in  the 
arts  of  agriculture ;  it  should  awaken  their  artistic 
interest  and  enable  them  to  express  that  interest 
in  drawing  and  in  color;  it  should  give  them  a 
taste  for  literature  and  enable  them  to  live  a  life 
of  solitude  without  weariness  and  with  the  ability 
to  deepen  life  by  study  and  thought;  it  should 
prepare  them  to  defend  their  rights  and  perform 
their  duties  as  citizens  of  a  republic  and  give 
them  a  large  and  just  notion  of  duties  in  relation 
to  international  affairs.  The  school  should  be 
a  center  of  the  best  influences  of  culture  not  only 
for  children  but  for  all  citizens. 

In  order  that  the  rural  school  may  perform  its 
high  task  it  should   be  large  enough   to   bring 


134  Social  Duties 

together  enough  children  and  youth  to  make 
school  life  enthusiastic  and  interesting  to  pupils 
and  teachers,  and  to  warrant  the  expenditure  of 
sufficient  money  to  secure  good  teachers.  Small 
schools  should  be  united  in  larger  schools  and  the 
children  who  are  too  far  from  the  school  to  walk 
should  be  carried  in  vehicles  provided  as  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  school  system. 

It  would  hasten  this  movement  for  improve- 
ment if  the  central  school  authorities  of  the 
commonwealth  were  required  by  law  to  give  more 
thorough  supervision  and  direction  especially  to 
schools  in  backward  districts,  and  furnished  with 
the  necessary  means. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

The  book  of  Mr.  O.  J.  Kern,  Among  Country  Schools, 
is  itself  a  charming  treatment  of  this  subject,  and  on 
pp.  302-8  it  gives  a  long  list  of  books  and  magazine 
articles  which  need  not  be  repeated  in  this  place,  since 
Mr.  Kern's  book  is  indispensable  for  anyone  who  seri- 
ously wishes  to  study  the  matter. 

3.  The  rural  church. — The  duty  of  the  rural 
community  to  its  church  is  fixed  by  the  nature 
of  the  work  of  the  church.  Religion  is  a  uni- 
versal need;  communion  with  God  is  the  heart 
of  culture.  The  ideals  of  religion  are  the  inspira- 
tion of  science  and  the  essence  of  morality.    Life 


i 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  135 

is  not  fully  human  without  prayer  and  faith.  Sin 
needs  rebuke,  righteousness  must  be  enforced  and 
interpreted  in  terms  of  daily  tasks,  and  for  all 
this  every  community  needs  the  church. 

But  a  church  cannot  perform  its  task  unless  it 
has  ministers  who  are  intelligent,  sufficiently  edu- 
cated, spiritual,  devoted  to  their  work,  and  who 
give  themselves  earnestly  and  constantly  to  this 
one  thing. 

The  chief  enemy  of  religion  in  the  country  is 
the  diversion  of  forces.  Each  denomination  feels 
required  to  keep  a  minister  of  its  own  kind  in 
each  locality;  and  the  result  is  that  salaries  are 
small;  the  minister  is  starved  physically  and  the 
people  are  starved  spiritually.  We  have  touched 
upon  the  wisdom  of  consolidating  country  schools 
so  that  teachers  may  be  properly  supported  and 
suitable  buildings  and  appliances  be  furnished ; 
now  we  need  to  consolidate  rural  churches  to 
avoid  the  deplorable  and  sinful  waste  which 
makes  religious  enterprises  languish  until  the 
church  itself  brings  religion  into  contempt.  Im- 
proved country  schools  are  making  it  impossible 
for  the  church  to  employ  untrained  and  incompe- 
tent ministers ;  the  young  people  simply  will  not 
listen  to  untaught  preachers.  Old  people  may  go 
to  sleep  if  the  sermon  is  dull  and  meaningless,  but 
young  high-school  pupils  will  slip  away. 


136  Social  Duties 

VI.       FEDERATION    OF   FORCES 

All  social  interests  are  woven  together;  a  com- 
munity whose  income  is  too  small  cannot  carry 
out  common  enterprises,  provide  good  schools 
and  churches,  support  teachers  and  ministers,  and 
rise  in  civilization.  The  most  vigorous  and  ambi- 
tious youth  will  take  their  chances  in  the  large 
towns  and  cities  and  life  will  become  stagnant 
in  the  country.  Hence  it  is  desirable  to  bring 
together  the  members  of  the  community  who  have 
some  desire  to  improve  conditions  of  industry, 
health,  and  culture.  The  ministers,  lawyers, 
physicians,  teachers,  and  county  superintendents, 
county  officers,  and  farmers  of  light  and  leading 
may  well  form  a  federation  of  farmers'  institutes, 
churches,  schools,  county  fairs,  literary  clubs,  and 
make  studies  of  the  entire  field  of  health,  indus- 
try, rural  arts,  domestic  science,  legal  rights  and 
duties,  moral  education,  literary  inspiration,  read- 
ing, and  spiritual  life.  Such  federations  are 
forming  under  various  names  in  various  parts  of 
the  country.  An  annual  meeting  may  be  held  at 
which  addresses  are  given  by  men  and  women 
who  have  studied  the  needs  of  rural  conditions 
on  the  ground  and  have  constructive  suggestions 
for  improvement  to  make.  Grumblers  dissipate 
energy.     No  person  should  be  invited  to  speak 


Duties  in  Rural  Communities  137 

more  than  five  minutes  who  is  not  known  to  have 
a  practical  plan  for  betterment. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 
Suggestions  for  study  of  local  conditions  are  fur- 
nished by  the  titles  of  each  paragraph  in  this  chapter; 
but  others  will  grow  out  of  these,  out  of  reading  the 
books  recommended  and  out  of  references  of  the  pro- 
gramme committee  of  the  class. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 
In  addition  to  books  and  articles  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  preceding  paragraphs  we  may  refer  to  the 
two  papers  on  the  "Rural  Community,"  by  Weber  and 
Butterfield,  in  the  Report  of  the  Congress  of  Arts  and 
Science,  Vol.  VII,  and  K.  W.  Butterfield,  Chapters  in 
Rural  Progress. 


CHAPTER  VII 

URBAN  LIFE:   PUBLIC  HEALTH 

We  have  seen  that  the  duties  of  the  members 
of  a  community  are  the  modes  of  conduct  re- 
quired by  conditions  of  general  welfare  in  that 
community.  The  conditions  of  modern  city  life 
are  exceedingly  complex  and  the  duties  of  respon- 
sible citizens  are  correspondingly  intricate  and 
difficult  to  understand.  A  few  general  maxims 
about  virtue  and  honesty  are  an  inadequate 
equipment  for  one  who  would  helpfully  take  part 
in  helping  men  to  better  life  in  a  huge  town. 

At  first  glance  the  superficial  observer  dis- 
covers nothing  but  a  multitude  of  people  scurry- 
ing in  all  directions,  each  intent  on  some  private 
scheme;  the  general  welfare  is  not  in  all  his 
thoughts.  Further  reflection  offers  apology  for 
this  concentration  of  interest  in  self;  each  man 
must  earn  his  living  by  assiduous  industry  or  fall 
a  burden  on  the  city  as  pauper  or  thief.  For  the 
most  part  the  common  good  is  increased  as  every 
individual  does  the  best  he  can  for  himself  and  is 
faithful  to  his  own  duty.  There  is  so  much 
eternal  truth  in  the  old-fashioned  doctrine  of 
individualism  and  liberty.  Even  yet  there  are 
able  thinkers  who  believe  and  teach  that  nothing 
138 


Urban  Life:  Public  Health  139 

more  is  needed  than  freedom  for  each  man  to  go 
his  own  way,  "hoe  his  own  row,"  and  provide 
for  his  own  wants;  that  the  social  well-being  is 
the  certain  result  of  the  sum  of  the  enjoyment 
and  satisfactions  of  all  individuals;  that  the 
selfishness  of  millions  works  better  than  deliberate 
co-operation.  And  we  admit  that  nothing  will 
ever  make  personal  initiative,  energy,  industry, 
and  thrift  needless.  When  a  man  depends  on  his 
neighbors  to  bring  him  material  support  and  pro- 
vide him  with  pre-digested  ideas,  he  soon  becomes 
a  parasite  and  his  powers  fall  to  decay. 

But  individualism  and  liberty  are  words  which 
represent  only  one  aspect  of  human  life;  for  each 
person  is  a  social  being,  owes  much  to  society, 
cannot  live  alone,  cannot  ignore  the  rights  of 
others,  cannot  produce  all  the  commodities  he 
requires,  cannot  walk  on  a  pavement  without 
regard  to  his  fellow-citizens,  cannot  judge  his 
own  cause  fairly,  cannot  cure  his  own  diseases  or 
dress  his  own  wounds,  cannot  defend  himself 
unaided  against  epidemic,  burglary,  or  riot,  can- 
not furnish  his  children  with  schools,  cannot 
enjoy  the  highest  forms  of  art  and  religion.  And 
even  individual  virtue — if  such  there  be — is  at  its 
best  only  when  enforced  by  social  opinion,  criti- 
cism, or  law,  and  encouraged  by  social  praise  and 
honor.    "No  man  liveth  to  himself.^ 


I40  Social  Duties 

It  is  in  the  city  that  we  find  human  soHdarity 
in  its  most  impressive  forms,  for  there  each  citi- 
zen is  enmeshed  in  a  network  of  relations,  in- 
fluences, and  obhgations  unknown  to  the  isolated 
farmer  or  dweller  in  a  village.  This  labyrinth  of 
conditions  can  here  be  outlined  only  in  a  general 
way: 

The  moral  ideal  involved  in  social  life  presents  itself 
....  in  the  three  forms  of  institutions  to  be  main- 
tained, duties  to  be  fulfilled,  and  a  type  of  life  to  be 
realized.  At  different  stages  of  development,  and  in 
different  races  of  mankind,  it  tends  to  present  itself  more 
distinctly  in  one  or  other  of  these  forms.  Thus  the 
Jews  thought  chiefly  of  Commandments,  the  Greeks 
chiefly  of  Virtues,  and  perhaps  the  Romans  attached 
most  importance  to  the  maintenance  of  social  institutions. 
But,  in  whatever  form  the  moral  life  is  conceived,  the  good 
citizen  may  be  said  to  derive  from  these  general  con- 
ceptions of  its  nature  the  principles  by  which  his  life  is 
guided.^ 

Before  we  can  know  what  duties  grow  out  of 
urban  conditions  we  must  know  what  those  con- 
ditions are.    Hence  we  must  make : 

I.       AN   ANALYSIS   OF   THE   STRUCTURE   OF   A   CITY 

I.  The  plan  of  the  city  streets. — No  two  cities 
are  alike,  as  a  glance  at  maps  of  New  York,  Phil- 
adelphia, Washington,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  San 
Francisco,  New  Orleans,  and  of  European  cities 

*  Mackenzie,   Manual  of  Ethics,   p.    370. 


Urban  Life:  Public  Health  141 

will  quickly  show.  The  curve  of  a  lake  or  ocean 
shore,  the  steep  hills,  the  narrow  island,  the 
extended  marsh  or  plain  determine  the  direction 
of  growth  and  the  arrangement  of  ways ;  while 
the  fancy  of  architects  and  engineers,  as  at  our 
national  capital,  seeking  beauty  and  impressive- 
ness,  may  fix  the  lines  of  streets  for  centuries  to 
come. 

The  streets  are  lined  with  buildings  for  all 
purposes — private  residences  for  the  most  part, 
warehouses  for  storage,  factories,  mills,  mercan- 
tile establishments,  parks,  museums  of  art,  public 
edifices  for  education  and  justice.  In  variety 
there  is  unity  and  all  cities  have  certain  essential 
features  in  common. 

2.  Arrangements  for  transportation  and  travel. 
— The  street  itself  is  made  for  the  free  move- 
ment of  human  beings,  and  goods  for  manu- 
facture, sale,  and  consumption.  No  individual  is 
permitted  to  own  and  control  a  street ;  it  is  always 
public  property  and  devoted  to  community  uses. 
Whatever  be  the  goal  of  the  moving  citizen  he 
must  reach  it  by  walking  or  riding  over  a  public 
way,  whether  at  a  level  with  the  surface,  or  above 
or  below  it.  When  one  leaves  the  door  of  a  pri- 
vate home  and  steps  upon  a  sidewalk  he  is  in 
another  world,  a  world  of  the  common  rule. 
"Keep  to  the  right  as  the  law  directs,"  for  law 


142  Social  Duties 

is  one  method  of  telling  the  individual  to  observe 
the  convenience  of  all.  On  a  rural  highway 
pedestrians  may  safely  walk;  in  a  city  the  road 
and  pavement  are  separated  to  avoid  danger; 
vehicles  have  right  of  way  on  the  road  and 
pedestrians  on  the  sidewalk.  Crossings  are  de- 
batable ground  and  when  crowded  are  full  of 
danger. 

In  cities  the  means  of  transportation  are  more 
socialized  than  in  fanning  districts  where  each 
family  has  its  own  means  of  conveyance.  Only 
the  rich  can  have  carriages  and  automobiles ; 
most  of  the  people  use  public  carriages  driven  by 
electricity.  These  means  of  transportation  are 
rarely  owned  by  individuals,  but  generally  by 
corporations,  occasionally  by  the  city.  The  com- 
munity must  make  regulation  to  protect  various 
interests  by  means  of  contracts  in  granting  fran- 
chises. Private  interest  has  never  yet  been  ade- 
quate protection  for  the  rights  of  the  public ;  the 
community  must  guard  itself  with  utmost  vigil- 
ance and  by  the  best  methods. 

3.  Means  of  communication  must  be  main- 
tained for  the  inhabitants  of  a  city,  because 
industries,  recreations,  medical  service,  trade, 
spiritual  intercourse  depend  on  them.  Hence  the 
creation  and  maintenance  of  postal  routes,  tele- 
graphs, telephones,  and  messenger  service. 


I 
i 


Urbcm  Life:  Public  Health  143 

4.  Standards  of  precision. — Through  ignor- 
ance, neghgence,  or  fraud  customers  may  suffer 
loss  and  injury  in  purchase  of  commodities; 
hence  the  need  of  public  scales,  inspectors  of 
weights  and  measures  used  by  tradesmen,  public 
clocks,  inspection  of  the  purity  and  good  measure 
of  medicines,  milk,  and  foods.  Morality  of 
action  becomes  more  exact  with  improvement  in 
weights  and  measures,  and  mathematical  preci- 
sion is  an  ideal  of  conduct. 

5.  Protection. — On  the  frontier  and  on  isolated 
farms  each  man  must  in  some  measure  guard  his 
own  person,  property,  and  family.  In  cities  this 
is  impossible  in  the  same  degree.  For  extinguish- 
ing fires  we  must  organize  trained  and  profes- 
sional men  in  fire  departments ;  for  detecting  and 
arresting  criminals  cities  must  have  a  police  de- 
partment ;  while  general  ordinances  forbid  selfish 
individuals  to  jeopardize  the  public  by  building 
with  wood  where  stone,  brick,  and  iron  are 
necessary  to  restrict  the  ravages  of  conflagration. 
The  whim  and  caprice  of  individual  liberty  are 
restrained  in  order  that  all  may  be  free  from 
danger  and  fear.  On  a  farm,  decaying  matter 
left  exposed  may  not  be  very  offensive  or  danger- 
ous, and  it  may  even  be  made  useful  as  fertilizer 
by  covering  it  with  earth;  but  in  a  crowded  city 
such   conduct  would   be   deadly,    for  there   life 


144  Social  Duties 

depends  on  quick  removal  of  all  organic  matter. 
If  a  person  pleads  his  right  to  live  as  he  did  on 
his  farm,  and  to  do  what  he  pleases  with  his  own 
property,  he  injures  his  neighbor  and  soon  finds 
himself  in  the  grip  of  the  law.  Streets,  alleys, 
and  courts  must  be  lighted  all  night  to  facilitate 
movement  and  to  make  attacks  of  thieves  more 
difficult  and  rare. 

II.       SOCIAL  DUTIES   IN   RELATION   TO   PUBLIC 
HEALTH  IN  CITIES 

Public  health  is  affected  by  the  customary  con- 
duct of  individuals,  by  social  conventions  and 
fashions,  by  legal  requirements  enforced  by  pub- 
lic administration.  Assuming  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  each  citizen  to  refrain  from  injurious  actions 
and  positively  to  promote  the  conditions  of 
physical  well-being,  since  these  belong  to  the 
primer  of  morality,  we  proceed  to  map  out  some 
of  the  main  lines  of  conduct  required  by  urban 
life.  It  will  soon  be  evident  that  upright  motives 
alone  are  not  all  of  duty:  that  "hell  is  paved  with 
good  intentions,"  that  virtue  is  a  poor  ghost  until 
it  takes  bodily  form  in  customs,  institutions,  laws, 
and  agencies. 

I.  The  first  duty  of  the  good  citizen  is  to  study 
under  the  best  teachers  the  laws  of  hygiene  and 
sanitation.     If  we  cannot  say  that  knowledge  is 


Urban  Life:  Public  Health  145 

part  of  duty  we  surely  can  assert  that  an  earnest, 
persistent,  and  life-long  study  of  the  laws  of 
health  is  a  duty  we  owe  ourselves,  our  children, 
and  our  neighbors.  Ill-health  undermines  personal 
usefulness  and  industrial  efficiency,  and  is  trans- 
mitted in  some  defect  to  offspring;  while  com- 
municable disease  hurts  or  kills  our  neighbors. 
Disease,  therefore,  is  no  mere  individual  interest, 
but  affects  the  welfare  of  the  community. 

Elementary  instruction  in  anatomy,  physiology, 
and  hygiene  is  now  generally  given  to  children 
and  youth  in  our  public  schools.  But  the  knowl- 
edge acquired  at  so  early  a  period  is  necessarily 
limited;  its  principles  make  slight  impression  on 
heedless  youngsters  who  fancy  they  have  ex- 
haustless  stores  of  vitality ;  while  many  important 
problems  of  public  methods  of  guarding  against 
disease  and  accidents  cannot  be  understood  until 
judgment  has  been  matured  by  longer  experience. 
Furthermore,  only  adults  can  proceed  from  such 
studies  to  associated  action,  and  new  knowledge 
is  constantly  coming  to  light  through  the  investi- 
gations of  scientific  men  in  practice,  in  hospitals, 
and  in  laboratories. 

We  can  here  attempt  nothing  more  than  to 
set  forth  a  series  of  topics  for  discussions  in  a 
class  of  adults.  The  fundamental  facts  and  princi- 
ples, as  well  as  practical  maxims,  should  be  given 


146  Social  Duties 

by  physicians  or  cited  from  books. ^  In  no  case 
should  such  general  information  as  can  be 
gathered  in  these  ways  lead  one  to  neglect  the 
advice  of  reputable  physicians  in  illness ;  and  for 
the  administration  of  public  measures  specially 
trained  medical  men  ought  to  be  elected  or  ap- 
pointed. Through  all  these  discussions  we  may 
reverently  remember  the  profound  interest  which 
Jesus  manifested  in  the  health  and  the  sickness 
of  men,  and  the  afYectionate  title  which  Paul 
applied  to  Luke,  "the  beloved  physician." 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND   DISCUSSION 

1.  Reasons  for  bathing ;  means  for  taking  baths ; 
methods  of  bathing. 

2.  Diet :  the  constituents  of  food  and  drink ;  kinds  of 
vegetable  and  animal  foods,  adaptation  to  age,  sex,  con- 
dition of  health,  occupation.  (See  chaps,  iii,  iv  of  this 
series  for  further  topics  and   references.) 

3.  Sleep,  quiet,  recreation :  the  physical  need,  the  ways 
of  securing  what  is  required. 

4.  Physical  exercise:  various  effects  on  body;  adapta- 
tion to  various  classes  of  persons. 

5.  Clothing:  materials,  uses,  adaptation  to  climate, 
seasons,   and   personal   peculiarities. 

6.  Sexual  hygiene :  Secure  circulars  from  the  Society 
of  Social  Hygiene,  Chicago,  or  Society  of  Moral  Prophy- 
laxis, New  York  (see  chapter  on  "Family,"  above). 
Printed  matter  on  this  subject  should   not  be  used   with 

'  See,  for  instance,  H.  N.  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  and 
Charles  Harrington,  A  Manual  of  Practical  Hygiene. 


Urban  Life:  Public  Health  147 

children  and  young  persons;  they  should  be  taught  by 
parents  or  be  taken  to  a  high-minded  physician  to  be 
instructed  how  to  take  care  of  themselves.  None  should 
be  left  to  seek  the  coveted  knowledge  from  unclean  lips 
or  from  mercenary  advertising  quack  doctors. 

With  the  aid  of  lectures  by  physicians,  factory  in- 
spectors, commissioners  of  health,  and  books  cited,  the 
following  social  measures  may  well  be  discussed  in 
church  classes  of  adults,  men  or  women,  and  co-opera- 
tion with  health  authorities  should  grow  out  of  the 
discussion : 

7.  Legal  measures  for  preventing  the  adulteration  of 
food,  milk,  water,  and  other  beverages,  as  mentioned 
already  in  chaps,  iii  and  iv ;  inspection  of  grocery  stores ; 
pure-food  laws;  rules  and  work  of  boards  of  commis- 
sioners of  health;  control  of  dairies  and  milk  stations 
by  authorities. 

8.  Legal  measures  for  keeping  the  air  free  from  dust, 
smoke,  noxious  and  disagreeable  odors;  municipal  ordi- 
nances, enforced  by  the  police  and  board  of  health. 

9.  Public  methods  of  keeping  the  soil  free  from  con- 
tamination, as  by  excessive  moisture  in  cellars,  neglect 
of  drainage  and  sewers,  accumulation  of  heaps  of  decay- 
ing matter,  garbage,  and  refuse  from  factories;  duties 
of  commissioners  of  health,  police,  and  mayors;  duties 
of  school  board  in  relation  to  schools ;  inquiry  whether 
the  officials  do  their  duty. 

10.  Agencies  of  the  community  for  providing  a  plenti- 
ful and  cheap  supply  of  pure  water,  for  preventing  the 
pollution  of  springs,  lakes,  and  streams ;  national  and 
state  laws,  city  ordinances.  Inquire  how  well  these 
agencies  perform  their  functions. 

11.  The  class  may  well  study  the  various  methods  used 


148  Social  Duties 

by  cities  for  harmless  disposal  of  sewage  and  inquire  as 
to  the  working  of  the  local  system. 

12.  What  are  the  various  methods  of  disposing  of  gar- 
bage ;  what  is  the  best  method ;  and  what  are  the  facts 
about  the  local  methods? 

13.  In  cities  great  care  must  be  taken  to  provide  public 
control  by  experts  of  disinfection  of  houses,  clothing, 
bedding,   sleeping-cars,   etc. 

14.  It  is  well  known  that  insects,  as  common  house 
flies,  mosquitoes,  fleas,  bedbugs,  are  the  means  of  con- 
veying the  germs  of  disease,  as  yellow  fever,  malaria, 
typhoid  fever,  etc.  Domestic  animals,  as  cats  and  dogs, 
may  carry  the  germs  from  house  to  house,  and  rats  are 
guilty  of  homicide  in  a  similar  way,  though  not  regarded 
as  pets. 

15.  Vaccination  is  ignorantly  opposed  by  a  few  fanati- 
cal persons,  in  spite  of  the  overwhelming  evidence  of  its 
value  in  suppressing  smallpox ;  and  the  use  of  antitoxin 
in  averting  or  curing  diphtheria  is  antagonized  on  the 
same  grounds. 

16.  Quarantine  methods  are  chiefly  of  interest  in  sea- 
port cities  and  they  are  in  the  hands  of  national  authori- 
ties ;  but  municipal  health  authorities  are  under  obli- 
gation to  prevent  the  spread  of  disease  by  isolating 
houses  where  there  is  scarlet  fever  or  diphtheria,  and 
posting  notices  of  warning  on  the  doors  to  protect  visit- 
ors from  exposure. 

17.  State  and  municipal  authorities  have  yet  before 
them  a  wide  field  of  usefulness  in  which  they  will  need 
the  support  of  public  opinion  in  discovering  and  pre- 
venting the  diseases  which  are  caused  by  occupations : 
air  vitiated  by  respiration  in  closely  packed  workrooms ; 
irritating    and    poisonous    gases    and    fumes,    dust-laden 


Urban  Life:  Public  Health  149 

atmosphere,  charged  with  deadly  germs ;  work-places 
where  the  laborer  passes  quickly  from  extremes  of  heat 
to  extreme  cold,  where  the  place  is  damp  and  dark,  where 
the  air  pressure  is  so  strong,  as  in  tunnel  construction, 
as  to  destroy  or  impair  the  organs  of  hearing  and  even 
heart  action;  occupations  unfit  for  women  or  children. 

This  is  the  place  for  frank  speech  about  the 
"Christian  Science"  movement  in  which  many 
estimable  people  are  interested.  Toward  those 
who  have  committed  themselves  to  this  cult  in 
good  faith  we  have  none  but  the  kindest  attitude ; 
and  we  are  aware  that  many  sincere  men  and 
women  have  found  in  the  creed  of  the  new 
church  a  real  satisfaction  of  their  spiritual 
hunger.  We  do  not  pretend  to  judge  the  motives 
of  the  members  of  their  congregations,  and  so  far 
as  the  topic  of  this  chapter  is  concerned  we  have 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  interior  and  invisible 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  We  are  seeking  an 
entirely  objective  standard  of  testing  conduct  by 
its  tendency  to  hinder  or  promote  public  health. 
Space  will  not  permit  the  writer  to  offer  the 
evidence  for  his  personal  conviction  that  much  of 
what  goes  under  the  name  of  "healing"  among 
these  people  is  mere  quackery  and  should  be 
brought  under  legal  control.  Preventive  and 
curative  medicine,  in  the  really  scientific  sense, 
requires  prompt  diagnosis  of  abnormal  conditions 
by  a  trained  medical  man,  and  in  case  of  con- 


150  Social  Duties 

tagious  diseases  quarantine,  notification,  isolation, 
disinfection,  vaccination,  employment  of  anti- 
toxin in  certain  instances,  and  thorough  control  of 
the  patient  by  competent  persons.  Certainly  it 
is  not  too  much  to  demand  that  anyone  professing 
to  be  a  "healer"  should  pass  a  medical  examina- 
tion and  give  proofs  of  being  competent  to  act 
in  accordance  with  the  best  light  of  modern  sci- 
ence, and  severe  penalties  should  be  provided  for 
violation  of  such  laws  made  for  the  protection 
of  the  ignorant  and  of  the  general  public.  This 
is  admitted  by  "scientists"  for  dentists  and 
surgeons,  but  it  is  far  more  necessary  for  those 
who  claim  to  heal  nervous  diseases  where  an 
early  and  accurate  diagnosis  is  essential  to  suc- 
cessful treatment  and  where  the  trouble  is  com- 
plicated and  obscure.  Now  the  authoritative 
sacred  books  of  "Christian  Science,"  if  I  can  make 
out  their  meaning,  expressly  forbid  the  faithful 
to  do  any  of  the  things  mentioned  which  modern 
science  requires.  It  is  true  that  in  extreme  pain 
and  danger  the  faithful  are  often  illogical  and 
contradict  their  creed  by  seeking  competent  med- 
ical help,  but  this  is  often  too  late;  the  mischief 
is  done;  the  disease  has  advanced  too  far  or  has 
spread  deadly  contagion  to  others.  Since  this 
paragraph  is  intended  only  to  open  a  large  prob- 
lem and  not  at  all  to  close  discussion,  the  question 


Urban  Life:  Public  Health  151 

is  left  with  the  reader  whether  it  is  too  strong 
language  to  call  this  part  of  the  conduct  of 
"Christian  Scientists"  immoral  in  the  sense  in 
which  that  word  is  used  throughout  this  volume, 
that  is  as  relating  to  conduct  which  tends  to  im- 
pair the  physical  and  spiritual  health  of  the 
community.  That  "mental  therapeutics"  ought 
to  receive  larger  consideration  from  medical  men, 
and  that  the  new  cult  has  compelled  physicians 
to  give  the  subject  more  adequate  treatment, 
medical  men  themselves  seem  generally  ready  to 
admit  Experiments  in  this  field,  however,  since 
they  involve  dangers  to  the  most  delicate  struc- 
ture of  the  body,  that  is,  to  the  nervous  system, 
should,  like  vivisection,  be  permitted  only  to 
thoroughly  trained  professional  men.  If  the 
"healers"  can  furnish  men  of  this  kind  of  equip- 
ment they  should  be  left  free  to  advance  science 
and  the  healing  art  under  the  guarantees  required 
by  the  wisest  laws  of  all  civilized  lands. 

Tuberculosis  is  a  very  common  disease,  rarely 
inherited  but  often  communicated  from  person 
to  person  by  contact,  kissing,  or  through  the  air. 
The  germs  of  this  disease  are  coughed  up  by  the 
patient  and  after  being  dried  are  carried  in  dust 
to  the  lungs  of  others,  or  left  on  the  rims  of 
drinking  cups.  During  recent  years  this  linger- 
ing, impoverishing,  fatal  plague  has  been  some- 


152  Social  Duties 

what  reduced  by  effective  measures  to  destroy  the 
germs. ^ 

Health  depends  very  much  on  economic  well- 
being  and  on  intelligence  and  morality.  For 
example,  a  working  man  with  consumption  may 
have  good  medical  advice,  and  know  that  to  get 
well  he  must  have  expensive  rich  food,  rest,  and 
easy  life  in  the  open  air.  But  he  feels  that  his 
family  must  be  supported  and  so  he  works  on  in 
desperation  until  he  can  no  longer  lift  his  hand, 
meantime  exposing  his  mates  to  infection.  If,  as 
in  Germany,  all  working  men  were  required  by 
law  to  pay  a  few  cents  each  month  out  of  wages 
into  a  fund,  and  if  employers  were  required  to 
add  a  substantial  sum,  a  fund  would  be  created 
which  would  pay  for  support  and  medical  care 
for  all  the  sick;  families  would  not  have  to  go 
begging,  relief  societies  would  not  be  over- 
whelmed as  now,  and  thousands  of  useful  men 
would  be  restored  to  health  and  self-support.  To 
secure  such  legislation  intelligence  on  the  subject 
must  be  made  universal.  Here  we  find  an  illus- 
tration  of   our   principle   that   social    duties   are 

^  The  class  secretary  or  leader  should  correspond  with 
Professor  J.  Pease  Norton,  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  secre- 
tary of  the  American  Health  League,  and  seek  to  increase  the 
membership  and  influence  of  that  society  which  seeks  means 
of  promoting  public  health.  A  local  advisory  council  might 
weil  be  formed  to  co-operate  with  the  national  organization. 


Urban  Life:  Public  Health  153 

defined  by  the  sum  of  all  the  elements  which  are 
necessary  to  the  common  welfare.  This  chapter 
is,  therefore,  incomplete  in  itself  and  should  be 
studied  in  connection  with  all  that  precedes  and 
follows. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

J.  F.  J.  Sykes,  Public  Health  Problems. 

J.  A.  Fairlie,  Municipal  Administration. 

M.  N.  Baker,  Municipal  Engineering  and  Sanitation. 

Campaign  against  Tuberculosis  in  the  United  States, 
and  other  books  on  the  subject,  published  by  Charity 
Organization  Society,  New  York. 

S.  A.  Knopf,  Tuberculosis  as  a  Disease  of  the  Masses. 

The  Social  Evil,  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen, 
1901. 

J.   Lee,  Preventive   and   Constructive  Philanthropy. 

De  Forest  and  Veiller,  The  Tenement  House  Problem. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

URBAN    LIFE:    ECONOMIC    INTERESTS 

The  supply  of  the  material  means  of  existence 
and  of  culture  is  fundamental,  and  social  moral- 
ity is  here  put  to  the  most  severe  tests. 

1.  There  are  certain  old-fashioned  industrial 
virtues  which  have  been  taught  from  ancient 
times  by  sages  and  moralists  and  which  never  in 
this  world  will  be  obsolete — the  duty  of  useful 
work  and  of  thrift.  The  idler  and  the  spendthrift 
have  always  been  recognized  as  pests.  We  do 
not  wish  to  diminish  respect  and  zeal  for  these 
very  respectable  virtues;  but  they  are  already 
honored  sufficiently,  at  least  with  lip  service  and 
pen  service,  enforced  by  cold  and  hunger,  and  we 
are  now  occupied  with  duties  which  demand 
social  organization  of  modem  types  and  full  co- 
operation of  great  communities.  All  pulpits  and 
Sunday-school  leaflets  reiterate  millions  of  times 
the  duty  of  labor  and  saving,  but  they  have 
hardly  begun  as  yet  to  teach  the  nature  of  moral 
obligations  which  arise  out  of  recent  organiza- 
tions of  urban  enterprises. 

2.  In  the  case  of  common  wealth  in  cities  it  is 
not  necessary  to  have  actual  ownership  of  desir- 
able objects  of  certain  kinds  in  order  to  enjoy 

154 


Urban  Life:  Economic  Interests  155 

them.  Numerous  examples  may  be  cited.  Thus 
all  men  walk  on  public  pavements  or  ride  on 
streets  which  are  not  controlled  by  any  particular 
person.  The  rapidly  extending  areas  devoted  to 
parks  are  better  than  private  grounds  fenced  in 
and  burdened  with  interest  and  taxes.  In  each 
school  district  is  a  public  building  with  its  grounds 
owned  and  kept  in  good  condition  by  the  city, 
while  teachers  and  janitors  serve  rich  and  poor 
alike.  The  city  hall,  the  courts  of  justice,  the 
public  library,  are  common  wealth;  they  are  not 
ostentatious  marks  of  selfish  distinction  which 
set  apart  a  rich  person  from  his  kind  and  awaken 
envy,  but  they  minister  to  the  needs  of  all. 

Men  complain  that  taxation  becomes  heavier 
every  decade,  and  this  is  true.  It  is  unfortunate 
when  the  money  thus  collected  is  stolen  by  "graft- 
ers" or  squandered  by  inefficient  officials.  But 
such  waste  is  not  necessary  and  will  not  occur 
when  more  men  and  women  apply  their  con- 
sciences and  intelligence  to  the  accounts  of 
municipal  officers.  But  in  spite  of  abuses  urban 
communities  are  acquiring  enormous  amounts  of 
this  community  wealth. 

There  is  much  common  wealth  which  is  nom- 
inally owned  by  private  associations  but  actually 
used  by  the  public.  Thus  millions  of  dollars  are 
pouring  into  the  endowments  of  universities,  col- 


156  Social  Duties 

leges,  art  museums,  scientific  museums,  libraries, 
orchestra  halls,  music  halls,  settlements,  old 
people's  homes,  day  nurseries,  summer  vacation 
colonies  and  camps  for  city  children  and  their 
weary  mothers,  hospitals  and  asylums  of  all 
kinds. 

Property  held  by  churches  is  usually  freely 
open  to  the  public  and  its  ministries  are  given 
without  price  to  those  who  cannot  or  will  not 
pay  for  them,  although  some  churches  are  too 
much  like  private  clubs  of  pew-holders  who  desire 
to  travel  to  heaven  in  private  cars.  More  than  all 
other  buildings,  a  church  should  be  treated  as 
common  property,  and  it  is  freed  from  taxation 
on  this  ground.  A  church  whose  doors  are  not 
open  freely  and  frequently  is  morally  bound  to 
pay  taxes ;  and  in  addition,  to  be  honest,  it  should 
cease  to  pretend  to  be  a  Christian  church ;  it  uses 
the  name  of  Christ  in  vain ;  it  is  lying. 

Thus  in  many  ways  our  cities  are  coming 
rapidly  into  possession  of  a  vast  amount  of 
material  wealth  which  is  at  the  service  of  all 
citizens,  rich  and  poor.  The  tendency  to  increase 
this  desirable  social  possession  may  be  promoted 
by  teaching  rich  men  that  investment  in  goods 
accessible  to  all  is  morally  better  than  what  they 
spend  in  personal  luxury;  and  this  lesson  may 
properly  be  enforced  by  taxation  on  the  basis  of 


Urban  Life:  Economic  Interests  157 

personal  expenditures.  It  is  true  that  the  power 
to  tax  may  be  abused,  may  so  burden  and  cripple 
industry  as  to  reduce  the  sum  of  wealth  annually 
produced.  The  rich  man  who  invests  his  money 
in  business  and  directs  useful  production  is  serv- 
ing his  country  as  truly  as  when  he  gives  liberally 
to  libraries,  colleges,  and  museums  of  art.  The 
annual  appropriation  of  private  income  for  public 
uses  has  strict  limits,  and  this  is  expressed  in  the 
old  adage  that  it  is  poor  policy  to  "kill  the  goose 
which  lays  golden  eggs."  Taxation  on  the  visible 
and  ostentatious  expenditures  of  wealthy  persons 
would  not  discourage  production  so  much  as  our 
present  methods  of  taxation.  For  example, 
automobiles  are  properly  required  to  pay  an 
annual  license  fee.  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  recom- 
mends a  rather  heavy  inheritance  tax  and  enforces 
his  view  with  the  hint  that  a  city  or  state  should 
not  hinder  the  bees  while  they  are  at  work  but 
take  a  good  share  of  the  honey  when  the  hive  is 
full. 

3.  Taxation  is  the  method  by  which  private 
property  is  devoted  to  immediate  or  permanent 
social  uses.^  We  have  elsewhere  shown  that 
present  methods  of  taxation  in  cities  are  a  direct 
occasion   of    fraud,    inequality  of   burdens,    and 

^  This  subject  receives  special  discussion  in  another 
chapter. 


158  Social  Duties 

injustice.  Radical  reformation  is  called  for  by 
social  ethics. 

4.  The  care  of  health  is  an  economic  duty. 
The  vigor,  efficiency,  and  productive  power  of  the 
working  people  depend  primarily  on  their  free- 
dom from  disease  and  the  favorable  physical  con- 
ditions of  home,  street,  shop,  and  work-place. 
These  favorable  conditions  cannot  be  secured 
without  intelligent  city  government  supported  by 
the  public  well  instructed  in  the  laws  of  hygiene. 
Here  we  see  and  appreciate  the  vital  connection 
of  health  and  economic  welfare  with  the  courses 
of  study  in  public  schools,  night  schools,  and 
popular  lecture  courses.  We  may  cite  a  few 
sentences  in  illustration  from  the  "Public  Health 
Catechism"  of  the  American  Health  League  :^ 

Because  of  the  deplorable  ignorance  and  indifference 
of  the  general  public  on  health  problems,  which  permits  the 
ravages  of  preventable  disease  and  the  misery  arising 
from  unhygienic  methods  of  living,  protection  is  neces- 
sary  It    has    been    estimated    that   the    waste    from 

sickness  and  death  amounts  in  dollars  alone  to  more  than 
$3,000,000,000  annually,  of  which  a  large  amount — over 
one  billion  dollars — is  undoubtedly  preventable. 

Several  diseases  have  either  been  extinguished  or 
reduced  to  small  proportions:  as  leprosy,  by  iso- 
lating patients ;  small-pox,  by  vaccination ;  scurvy, 

*  Other  publications  may  be  had  from  the  office  of  the 
League,  69  Church  Street,  New  Haven,  Conn. 


Urban  Life:  Economic  Interests  159 

by  supplying  sailors  with  lime  juice;  yellow  fever, 
by  quarantine;  diphtheria,  by  antitoxin;  typhoid 
fever,  by  public  water  filters  and  other  means; 
tuberculosis,  by  sanatoria,  anti-spitting  ordi- 
nances, and  education  of  the  public.  The  statistics 
of  mortality  show  progress  through  science  and 
general  education  and  improved  sanitary  arrange- 
ments. In  London  in  the  seventeenth  century  the 
death  rate  averaged  80  per  thousand,  as  against 

24  today.  In  the  eighteenth  century  the  death 
rate  in  Boston  was  37  per  thousand  as  against 

25  today.  In  New  York,  when  Colonel  Waring 
kept  the  streets  clean  in  1896,  the  death  rate  was 
2iJ^  ;  in  the  previous  decade  it  averaged  25,  the 
minimum  being  23.  Since  1896  it  has  risen.  The 
introduction  of  a  water  filter  in  the  town  of 
Lawrence,  Mass.,  in  1893,  was  followed  by  a 
reduction  in  deaths  from  typhoid  to  one-sixth  the 
previous  number.  The  death  rate  from  tubercu- 
losis has  been  reduced  in  fifteen  years  to  less  than 
two-thirds  its  former  amount  in  many  localities. 

The  same  catechism  shows  that  much  remains 
to  be  done.  Tuberculosis  could  be  exterminated 
in  a  comparatively  short  time  if  the  public  could 
be  prevented  from  spitting  out  infection,  and 
induced  to  live  and  sleep  with  proper  ventilation. 
Trichinotic  and  ptomaine  poisoning  could  be 
escaped  by  avoiding  the  use  of  diseased  meat 


i6o  Social  Duties 

from  our  slaughter-houses.  Typhoid  fever  could 
practically  be  abolished  by  improving  our  milk 
and  water  supplies  and  by  the  prevention  of  the 
pollution  of  our  rivers.  Alcoholism  and  the 
other  evils  of  intemperance  are  avoidable  by 
temperance;  sexual  diseases,  by  improvement  in 
social  hygiene;  heart  and  kidney  diseases,  by 
adopting  the  "simple  life."  Experiments  w^ith 
nine  healthy  students  showed  that  by  dietetic  care 
and  thorough  mastication,  muscular  endurance 
could  be  doubled  in  less  than  half  a  year. 

These  are  some  of  the  facts  which  determine 
the  duty  of  each  city  to  systematize  the  campaign 
for  increasing  economic  power  through  improv- 
ing the  knowledge  and  conduct  of  the  people  in 
regard  to  health. 

5.  Efficient  and  thrifty  city  administration. — 
Corrupt,  venal,  and  stupid  administration  takes 
the  earnings  of  a  hard-working  population,  wastes 
them,  steals  them,  enriches  schemers  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  people,  and  finally  gives  little  service 
for  excessive  expenditures.  Every  young  man 
and  woman  of  education  should  give  all  possible 
study  and  attention  to  the  city-hall  servants  of 
the  public;  should  try  to  learn  what  are  the  legal 
duties  and  powers  of  their  elected  officers  and 
what  they  accomplish.^     Vague  general  charges 

'  See  W.  H.  Allen,  Efficient  Democracy,  for  arguments  and 


Urban  Life:  Economic  Interests  i6i 

do  no  good  and  are  very  apt  to  be  ignorant  and 
unjust ;  for  even  as  it  is  city  officials  usually  render 
valuable  service.  To  reward  and  punish  with 
discrimination  and  effect  we  must  find  out  and 
publish  exactly  what  every  form  of  service  costs 
and  what  it  accomplishes,  and  the  precise  persons 
who  are  responsible  for  success  or  failure.  A 
false  charge  is  met  with  resentment  and  a  true 
charge  not  proved  destroys  the  influence  of  the 
man  who  accuses  the  public  officer. 

6.  Public  utilities. — Wherever  there  is  reason- 
able prospect  of  profits  private  interest  will  find 
capital  and  organize  a  business.*  There  is  no 
necessity  of  setting  the  ponderous  machinery  of 
city  government  to  work  wherever  any  consider- 
able number  of  persons  offer  money,  on  profitable 
terms,  for  the  supply  of  the  satisfactions  they 
crave,  whether  it  be  houses,  food,  water,  pictures, 
songs,  dramas,  books,  temples,  railways,  aero- 
planes, lighting,  luxuries,  or  even  vicious  indul- 
gence. Competitors  can  always  be  found,  those 
who  for  mercenary  motives  will  offer  their  ser- 
vices, no  matter  how  degraded  the  office.     Money 

devices.  The  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  in  New  York 
City  is  a  recent  organization  of  private  citizens,  with  expert 
accountants  and  lawyers  for  advisers,  who  are  determined  to 
discover  and  correct  abuses  in  various  departments  of  urban 
administration. 

'  T.  Veblen,  Theory  of  Business  Enterprise. 


i6a  Social  Duties 

will  buy  anything  of  someone;  and  in  fact  com- 
panies of  men  will  fight,  secretly  or  openly,  buy 
votes,  and  bribe  senates  or  courts,  if  possible,  for 
the  chance  of  catering  to  the  lowest  appetites  of 
mankind.  Therefore  we  might  leave  lucrative 
trades  to  ordinary  commercial  motives.  But 
from  all  this  we  cannot  conclude  that  the  city 
government  should  always  refrain  from  attempt- 
ing to  deal  with  the  questions  of  supply  of  services 
and  material  goods. 

In  the  first  place  some  of  the  material  needs 
of  the  inhabitants  of  cities  cannot  be  supplied  in  a 
way  which  will  bring  profits  to  private  contract- 
ors. For  example,  in  every  urban  community 
sewage  and  garbage  must  be  removed  and  dust 
laid  or  prevented ;  and  since  these  processes  do  not 
offer  a  profit,  the  people  must  require  the  service 
of  its  government,  although  even  here  contractors 
may  sometimes  be  employed.  The  motive  of 
profit  will  bring  organized  capital  into  lively 
action,  but  that  motive  cannot  be  relied  on  to 
protect  the  public  against  dishonest,  avaricious, 
and  unscrupulous  contractors.  Hence  the  neces- 
sity of  supervising,  regulating,  and  controlling 
the  firms  or  companies  which  furnish  transporta- 
tion, gas,  water,  or  light  to  a  city.  In  connection 
with  its  own  agencies  of  police,  fire  department, 
public  schools,   and  libraries  a  city  government 


4 


Urban  Life:  Economic  Interests  163 

must  transact  business  on  a  large  scale,  as  also  in 
the  supply  of  fuel,  lights,  vehicles,  care  of  build- 
ings and  parks.  City  administration  cannot  es- 
cape financial  transactions. 

Many  political  writers  and  even  practical  men 
of  affairs  go  much  farther  and  advocate  a  great 
extension  of  municipal  activities  in  connection 
with  public  utilities  and  monopolies.  Thus  there 
cannot  conveniently  and  economically  exist  in  the 
same  territory  two  water  companies,  two  gas 
companies,  and  an  indefinite  number  of  electric- 
lighting  and  telephone  companies;  for  each  will 
tear  up  the  streets,  hinder  traffic,  lay  out  expense 
for  which  consumers  must  pay,  and  finally  annoy 
the  public  by  their  duplication  and  conflicts  of 
systems.  Since  there  cannot  be  more  than  one 
system  of  public  utilities  in  the  same  area,  that 
system  is  necessarily  a  monopoly,  and,  in  the 
absence  of  competition  or  regulation,  will  charge 
consumers  all  they  will  endure,  and  continue  to 
buy  the  service  or  commodity  on  a  profitable  scale. 
The  business  motive  is  profits,  not  public  service 
or  philanthropy. 

Out  of  this  situation  has  arisen  a  controversy 
in  Europe  and  America  which  has  grown  exceed- 
ingly bitter  and  partisan,  so  that  even  the  most 
intelligent  and  honest  students  find  it  difficult  to 
get  at  the  facts.     All  we  can  here  attempt  is  to 


1 64  Social  Duties 

open  the  subject  and  give  references  to  works 
which  seem  worthy  of  consideration.  As  every 
voter  is  called  on  in  some  way  to  pass  judgment 
on  this  controversy,  it  is  his  duty  to  make  his 
voting  power  felt  with  as  full  knowledge  and  as 
sober  a  mind  as  he  can  command.  It  is  evident 
that  some  forms  of  public  utilities  are  more 
easily  managed  by  city  officials  than  others,  be- 
cause they  are  more  simple,  regular,  and  certain. 
For  example,  a  city  administration  can  conduct 
water  works  fairly  well  and  yet  fail  in  directing 
the  more  complicated  machinery  of  street  rail- 
ways. 

The  student  may  exercise  his  moral  judgment 
by  impartially  weighing  the  arguments  for  the 
two  policies  in  controversy.  The  general  con- 
siderations urged  in  favor  of  the  private  owner- 
ship and  management  of  such  public  utilities  as 
lighting  and  transportation  are  such  as  these: 
Public  ownership  and  administration  are  more 
expensive,  because  private  business  managers  are 
more  alert,  skilful,  active,  and  economical  than 
public  officials,  especially  where,  as  in  American 
cities,  the  officials  so  generally  secure  their  places 
through  party  influences,  rather  than  by  special 
fitness  and  training.  The  directors  of  profit- 
seeking  enterprises,  having  their  own  investments 
at  stake,  will  not  tolerate  waste,  indolence,  and 


Urbatt  Life:  Economic  Interests  165 

neglect,  where  public  officials  are  frequently  care- 
less and  easy-going  with  employees  who  have 
votes  to  consider.  It  is  also  claimed  that  the 
administrators  of  public  works  are  slow  to  intro- 
duce new  inventions  while  private  managers  are 
quick  to  avail  themselves  of  the  best  devices. 
Again  it  is  asserted  that  public  ownership  tends 
to  introduce  socialism  and  thus  to  suppress  the 
energy  and  initiative  of  private  enterprise.  It  is 
further  asserted  that  when  a  city  government  con- 
ducts a  business  at  a  loss  it  can  compel  taxpayers 
to  make  good  this  loss;  and  this  means  that  the 
losing  business  is  partly  supported  at  the  expense 
of  well-managed  and  profitable  private  business. 
Thus  there  is  an  annual  deficit  in  the  United 
States  Postal  Department,  much  larger  than  is 
generally  known  or  published,  since  in  accounts 
nothing  is  said  of  interest  on  buildings;  and  this 
deficit  must  be  met  out  of  the  income  of  persons 
engaged  in  agriculture,  transportation,  manu- 
factures, and  other  employments.  It  is  also 
affirmed,  with  much  evidence,  that  the  accounts 
of  municipal  bureaus  are  often  so  confused  and 
juggled  that  taxpayers  never  can  find  out  how 
much  the  loss  really  is. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  must  consider  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  enlarging  the  economic  activi- 
ties of  city  governments.     It  is  asserted  that  the 


i66  Social  Duties 

people  of  a  city  ought  to  be  supplied  with  objects 
of  universal  utility,  necessities  of  life,  without 
dependence  on  monopolies,  at  bare  cost,  without 
paying  profits  to  private  parties.  It  is  said  that 
the  employees  of  a  city  will  be  more  humanely 
treated  and  better  paid,  will  have  shorter  hours 
and  less  intense  and  exhausting  labor,  than  if  they 
are  controlled  by  private  corporations.  It  is  said 
that  we  shall  get  better  government  when  the 
cities  undertake  great  enterprises  and  make  it  an 
object  for  capable  and  ambitious  business  men  to 
seek  the  responsibilities  of  the  public  service. 

If  private  ownership  and  management  of  pub- 
lic utilities  is  the  system  chosen  by  a  city,  there 
are  certain  interests  which  must  be  guarded  in 
some  legal  way.  In  making  contracts  or  granting 
franchises  the  city  government  should  protect 
consumers  from  exorbitant  prices  and  defective 
service,  and  should  make  regulations  which  will 
protect  the  employees  of  the  companies  from 
abuse  and  injury. 

It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  public  funds 
are  not  unlimited;  that  there  is  no  source  of 
means  for  parks,  schools,  playgrounds,  fine  build- 
ings, except  the  product  of  industry  and  business ; 
that  cost  must  be  considered;  and  that  the  most 
severe  sacrifices  must  be  borne  by  the  smaller 
taxpayers  in  the  form  of  higher  rent  for  houses 


Urban  Life:  Economic  Interests  167 

and  greater  cost  of  food  and  clothing.  Every 
common  laborer  pays  taxes  on  the  necessities  of 
life,  even  if  he  does  not  know  it,  and  he  pays 
taxes  just  where  they  hurt  most. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

FAVORABLE   TO    MUNICIPAL    MANAGEMENT  OF   PUBLIC    UTILITIES 

R.  T.  Ely,  Monopolies  and  Trusts. 

E.  W.  Bemis,  Municipal  Monopolies. 

F.  C.  Howe,  The  British  City,  and  The  City  the  Hope 
of  Democracy. 

D.  F.  Wilcox,  The  American  City. 
Report  of  the  Civic  Federation  Commission,   1907. 
Article   on   "Municipal   Ownership,"   in   Bliss,   Encyclo- 
pedia of  Social  Reform   (1908). 

OPPOSED     TO     MUNICIPAL     MANAGEMENT     AND     FAVORING     PRI- 
VATE   MANAGEMENT    OF    PUBLIC    UTILITIES 

Hugo  R.  Meyer,  Municipal  Ownership  in  Great  Britain. 

DESCRIPTIVE    OF    MUNICIPAL    METHODS 

Albert    Shaw,    Municipal    Government    in    Continental 
Europe,  and  Municipal  Government  in  Great  Britain. 


CHAPTER  IX 

URBAN  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCIES 

I.       THE  ENDS  HERE  TO  BE  SPECIALLY  CONSIDERED 

I.  Diffusion  of  knowledge. — It  is  the  duty  of 
every  city  to  provide  means  for  the  discovery 
and  diffusion  of  knowledge  useful  to  the  people. 

a)  The  duty  of  discovering  new  truth  is  rarely 
recognized;  it  is  an  aspect  of  morality  which  has 
only  of  late  received  any  general  consideration, 
and  in  some  circles,  especially  in  some  parts  of  the 
church,  in  respect  to  the  highest  and  most  im- 
portant subjects,  it  is  often  regarded  as  something 
nearly  wicked  to  suggest  that  humanity  has  any- 
thing yet  to  learn.  We  have  as  a  people  been 
too  contented  to  ship  hogs  and  grain  to  Ger- 
many and  import  ideas.  The  love  of  truth  has 
meant  to  many  chiefly  a  sort  of  blind  loyalty 
to  tradition  and  primary  instruction  in  the 
"three  R's."  Happily  we  are  entering  on  a 
new  era.  Cities  are  beginning  to  establish  labo- 
ratories for  the  discovery  of  the  causes  of 
disease;  they  are  inviting  expert  statisticians, 
economists,  and  masters  of  administrative  sci- 
ence to  utilize  the  records  of  their  experience 
for  the  promotion  of  science,  just  as  eminent 
physicians  utilize  the  clinics  of  public  hospitals 
i68 


I 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  169 

for  increasing  knowledge  of  the  causes  and 
laws  of  sickness  and  health.  The  Bureau  of 
Municipal  Research  in  New  York  City  has  dem- 
onstrated the  value  of  scientific  investigation  of 
public  accounts.  Practical  business  men  can  form 
reasonable  judgments  of  methods  of  officials  only 
when  they  are  furnished  the  facts.  Before  knowl- 
edge can  be  popularized  it  must  be  acquired  by 
way  of  scientific  research.  Most  of  the  investi- 
gative work  of  this  kind  has  thus  far  been  done 
by  private  societies;  part  of  it  might  well  be  done 
by  public  officers  chosen  for  the  purpose.  In  this 
field  the  federal  government  has  done  admirable 
work,  as  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  Each 
city  should  form  an  alliance  with  experts  in  Uni- 
versities for  the  promotion  of  research. 

b)  Our  public-school  system  is  the  chief  social 
means  of  communicating  to  youth  the  knowledge 
already  acquired  by  men  of  science.  There  is 
general  agreement  that  at  least  the  elements  of 
education  should  be  offered  to  all  children;  and 
the  tendency  is  to  open  freely  to  all  who  have 
capacity  the  advantages  of  higher  education 
without  cost  for  tuition  in  state  supported  insti- 
tutions. Our  generation  has  inherited  a  rich 
spiritual  legacy  from  all  the  past,  the  estate  of 
science,  the  fund  of  thought  about  the  worlds  of 
nature  and  of  human  life — astronomy,  chemistry, 


170  Social  Duties 

physics,  geology,  botany,  zoology,  biology,  psy- 
chology, and  the  social  sciences,  as  well  as  the 
sciences  dealing  with  language,  literature,  and  re- 
ligion. The  great  social  problem  is  to  divide 
equitably  this  spiritual  estate  so  that  no  heir  shall 
be  robbed  of  his  share.  ^ 

2.  Art  education  is  part  of  the  task  of  our 
public  schools.  The  end  of  this  form  of  instruc- 
tion is  appreciation  of  the  beauty  in  the  world,  the 
attainment  of  critical  standards  of  judgment  and 
selection,  the  awakening  and  training  of  creative 
power  in  bom  artists  among  the  people,  the  taste- 
ful adornment  of  persons  and  homes,  and  the 
improvement  in  the  quality  and  price  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  industry,  as  well  as  increase  of  satisfac- 
tion in  work  itself.  With  advance  of  aesthetic 
culture  more  persons  will  find  themselves  in  a 
nobler  and  more  attractive  world ;  drawing,  paint- 
ing, modeling,  sculpture,  architecture,  engraving, 
music,  eloquence,  poetry,  will  arouse  higher  inter- 
ests and  elevate  the  plane  of  living. 

3.  Fellowship. — The  nation,  said  Gladstone, 
is  divided  into  two  hostile  camps.  It  is  increas- 
ingly difficult  for  employers  and  employees,  bank- 
ers and  mechanics,  clergymen  and  trade-unionists 
to  understand  each  other.  The  air  is  full  of  sus- 
picion,   distrust,    envy,    hatred,    malice,    grudge, 

*  See  L.  F.  Ward,  Applied  Sociology. 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  171 

revenge,  and  these  passions  are  inflammable  and 
explosive;  the  peace,  order,  and  unity  of  city, 
state,  and  nation  are  always  in  serious  peril. 
"Class  consciousness"  has  taken  possession  of  a 
large  and  growling  part  of  the  w^age-earning 
world  and  set  it  in  hostile  array  against  the 
employers  and  their  associates.  In  American 
cities  the  economic  differences  are  embittered 
by  racial  prejudices  and  by  sectarian  pas- 
sions. We  may  reasonably  hope  that  in  the 
future,  in  some  way  not  yet  clear,  these  rancors 
may  be  abated;  but  just  at  present  the  outlook 
has  many  suggestions  of  evil.  To  us  who  believe 
that  the  normal  attitude  of  man  to  man  is  not  that 
of  tiger  or  wolf,  but  of  brother  and  citizen  of  a 
commonwealth,  this  social  hostility,  this  disinte- 
gration of  fellowship,  this  persistent  misunder- 
standing is  a  threat  and  a  source  of  sorrow  and 
misgiving.  It  grieves  us  to  see  that  a  multitude 
of  our  fellow  men  carry  their  resentment  and 
enmity  against  the  employing  class  into  their 
relations  to  the  church. 

Therefore  the  church,  along  with  the  respon- 
sible directors  of  industry,  and  representatives  of 
art,  science,  and  patriotism,  is  interested  in  any 
methods  which  promise  to  further  sincere,  cordial 
and  wholesome  friendship  between  citizens.  This 
can  never  be  through  any  form  of  philanthropy 


172  Social  Duties 

with  a  taint  of  charity;  it  must  come  in  a  form 
which  will  recognize  the  sense  of  justice,  fairness, 
and  self-respect  of  the  working-men  as  having 
of  right  a  secure  place  in  the  republic;  it  must 
come  from  a  common  view  of  the  universal  and 
highest  interests  of  humanity  which  will  lift  us  all 
above  the  petty,  mean,  and  inhuman  passions  of 
cliques,  castes,  and  classes. 

4.  Morality,  patriotism,  and  religion  are  ends 
of  education;  and  all  worthy  schemes  of  culture 
will  advance  goodness,  justice,  love  of  fatherland, 
and  faith  in  reasonable  religion. 

II.      THE  INSTITUTIONS  AND  AGENCIES  OF 
EDUCATION  IN  CITIES^ 

1,  Each  city  now  has  its  own  system,  under 
state  laws:  kindergartens,  elementary  schools, 
secondary  or  "high"  schools,  and  in  New  York 
City  and  Cincinnati  even  a  college  or  university. 

2.  In  most  cities  there  are  private  and  parochial 
schools  of  all  grades,  from  kindergarten  to  uni- 
versity and  professional  schools.  The  policy  of 
our  government  is  to  grant  full  liberty  in  the  field 
of  education,  and  this  freedom  has  led  to  abuses 

'  Full  statistics  relating  to  urban  and  other  schools  are 
found  in  the  reports  of  the  United  States  commissioner  of 
education.  Various  state  and  city  reports  of  school  authorities 
may  also  be  obtained. 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  173 

which  call  for  correction.  Any  person,  group  of 
persons,  corporation,  or  church  is  permitted  un- 
hindered to  establish  and  maintain  schools  for 
children  and  youth.  Sectarian  convictions  have 
induced  the  members  of  some  denominations  to 
maintain  institutions  where  their  peculiar  views 
can  be  impressed  on  the  rising  generations,  and 
as  the  public  schools  are  frequently  forbidden  to 
teach  even  unsectarian  religion,  those  who  regard 
piety  as  an  essential  part  of  general  culture  make 
sacrifices  to  have  their  children  brought  up  under 
church  influences.  Frequently  this  conviction 
demands  great  sacrifices  of  them,  for  they  must 
pay  a  double  tax  for  schools,  one  for  public 
schools  and  another  for  parochial  schools.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  our  Roman  Catholic  and 
Lutheran  neighbors.  By  many  citizens  this  is 
thought  to  be  unjust,  and  it  is  often  urged  that, 
as  in  parts  of  Canada,  the  church  schools  should 
have  a  share  of  funds  raised  by  taxation,  or  that 
the  taxes  collected  from  Catholics  should  go  to 
their  own  schools.  It  does  appear  to  be  desirable 
that  some  mode  of  relieving  conscientious  citizens 
from  an  unequal  burden  might  be  found  without 
jeopardizing  the  free  public  schools.  When  the 
private  and  Church  institutions  fall  below  the 
standard  required  by  state  laws,  they  should  be 
compelled  to  raise  their  standards  by  means  of 


174  Social  Duties 

public  inspection  and  control.    To  this  those  who 
maintain  parochial  schools  would  not  object. 

3.  Museums,  libraries,  and  laboratories  for  the 
promotion  of  scientific  investigation  are  receiving 
attention  in  cities  and  in  some  cases  their  build- 
ings, collections,  and  appliances  attract  students 
from  afar. 

4.  Education  in  art  is  promoted  in  public 
schools  by  lessons  in  drawing,  modeling,  painting, 
and  artistic  workmanship  in  various  crafts.  Spe- 
cial art  schools  are  usually  founded  and  main- 
tained in  the  larger  urban  centers  by  private 
associations  which  provide  for  instruction  in 
drawing,  painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  music, 
drama. 

The  collections  of  casts,  engravings,  and  pic- 
tures are  growing  more  extensive  and  valuable  as 
auxiliaries  to  art  instruction  as  well  as  means  of 
increasing  the  aesthetic  enjoyments  of  the  people. 

5.  Among  the  important  privileges  of  city  life 
are  the  libraries  and  reading-rooms  which  throw 
wide  open  the  doors  of  learning  to  all  who  are 
eager  to  extend  their  knowledge  in  any  direction. 

6.  Of  theaters  it  is  difficult  to  write  in  church 
circles  without  misunderstandings,  and  the  case 
cannot  be  argued  in  a  brief  paragraph.  This, 
however,  may  be  suggested  as  honest,  fair,  and 
hopeful  of  good  results:  the  class  should  frame 


I 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  175 

its  judgment  of  actors  and  plays  at  first  hand  and 
on  the  basis  of  ascertained  facts,  just  as  they  do 
in  relation  to  works  of  fiction.  The  church  can- 
not afford  to  calumniate  an  entire  profession 
which  contains  so  many  worthy  artists,  on  the 
ground  that  m.any  of  its  members  are  immoral 
and  even  most  of  the  plays  presented  are  poor  or 
vicious.  Judgments  should  be  formed  and  ex- 
pressed only  upon  the  basis  of  ascertained  facts. 
The  only  way  to  truth  on  this  subject  is  long 
and  difficult,  as  is  all  literary  and  aesthetic  criti- 
cism. Why  should  there  not  be  in  each  city  a 
group  of  men  and  women  of  literary  training 
and  high  moral  standards  to  secure  and  publish 
materials  for  a  censorship  of  the  theatrical  exhi- 
bitions offered?  The  facts  could  be  collected  by 
such  a  group  from  the  librettos  of  operas  and 
plays,  from  the  descriptions  furnished  by  com- 
petent newspaper  critics  of  the  highest  class,  and 
by  visits  made  by  mature  persons  whose  minds 
are  not  full  of  prejudices.  In  every  city  there  are 
journalists  familiar  with  actors  and  playwrights 
who  would  welcome  the  co-operation  of  a  really 
capable  and  representative  association  of  fair  and 
high-minded  citizens.  The  influence  of  discrimi- 
nating citizens  would  be  very  great.  With  only 
a  slight  effort  in  this  direction  some  of  the  gross 
immorality  of  theaters  has  already  been  abolished. 


176  Social  Duties 

The  palpably  obscene  and  vicious  can  be  sup- 
pressed by  ordinary  police  action. 

7.  Among  the  most  potent  educational  agencies 
in  cities  are  the  churches  and  their  Sunday 
schools,  to  which  a  special  chapter  is  devoted. 

The  student  is  urged  to  write  out  from  reports  the 
essential  facts  about  the  educational  agencies  of  the  city 
or  town  in  which  he  dwells :  especially  the  number  of 
schools,  pupils,  teachers  in  all  grades,  the  value  of 
property;  the  duties  and  powers  of  the  school  board  and 
of  the  administrative  officers.  This  preliminary  study 
may  be  enlarged  with  further  discussion  and  thought 
about  special  points. 

III.       METHODS  OF  IMPROVEMENT  OF  THE  SYSTEM 
OF   EDUCATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

I.  The  first  condition  of  improving  the  work- 
ing of  our  public  schools  is  to  learn  what  they 
are  already  doing  and  what  they  fail  to  achieve; 
and  this  knowledge  must  be  as  accurate  as  pos- 
sible.^ 

We  may  here  select  a  few  questions  by  way  of 
illustration. 

'  For  details  the  class  may  well  study  School  Reports  and 
School  Efficiency,  by  D.  S.  Snedden  and  W.  H.  Allen,  published 
by  Macmillan,  1898,  especially  the  questions  on  pp.  118-27. 
It  would  be  good  training  for  members  of  the  class  to  take 
the  reports  of  the  superintendent  of  schools  in  the  city  where 
the  class  meets  and  try  to  answer  as  many  of  the  questions 
of  this  book  as  possible,  and  then  inquire  of  the  superintendent 
why  he  did  not  give  information  on  the  other  points. 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  177 

a)  Attendance :  We  wish  to  know  how  far  the 
schools,  public  and  parochial,  actually  have  the 
children  and  youth  under  their  instruction. 
Therefore  we  seek  in  the  reports  of  the  boards  of 
education  answers  to  such  questions  as  these: 
How  many  children  are  there  in  the  town  of 
school  age  (seven  to  fifteen),  and  how  many  are 
in  the  compulsory-attendance  group?  Of  these 
how  many  actually  attend  school,  in  what  grades 
and  how  many  days  in  the  year?  What  are  the 
causes  of  failure  to  be  present,  as  illness,  slow 
development,  defects  of  senses,  adenoid  growths? 
How  many  truant  officers  are  there?  How  many 
cases  have  they  investigated?  How  many  have 
been  restored  to  school  by  them? 

b)  We  wish  to  know  about  the  health  of  the 
pupils,  and  we  inquire:  How  many  medical  in- 
spectors and  nurses  are  employed  to  examine 
children  and  see  that  they  and  their  parents  are 
doing  what  is  necessary  to  care  for  their  physical 
soundness?  Are  the  children  weighed  and  meas- 
ured, so  as  to  observe  the  effect  of  school  life  on 
growth?  How  many  children  are  kept  out  of 
school  on  account  of  sickness?  Could  some  of 
these  be  taught  in  special  classes  and  ought  some 
to  be  sent  to  special  institutions,  as  for  the  feeble- 
minded or  epileptic?  Are  there  facilities  for 
play   and    are    there   competent    play   teachers? 


178  Social  Duties 

How  many  enjoy  these  facilities  and  how  many 
are  deprived  of  them?  What  are  the  results  of 
exercise  and  recreation,  as  shown  in  the  physical 
records  of  the  children? 

c)  We  wish  further  to  know  about  the  success 
of  the  pupils  in  their  studies,  and  this  interest 
constrains  us  to  seek  in  school  reports  for 
answers  to  such  questions  as  these:  How  many 
children  are  in  each  grade,  by  age  and  sex  ?  How 
many  youths  are  in  high  schools  and  in  night 
schools?  What  is  the  influence  of  manual  training 
on  the  attendance  of  boys  in  high  school  after 
the  compulsory  age?  What  is  the  effect,  as 
shown  in  records,  of  irregular  attendance  or 
low  scholarship  on  continuance  in  school?  What 
evidence  is  there  that  school  training  has  prepared 
children  for  industrial  efficiency?  Is  the  high 
school  merely  a  preparatory  department  for 
colleges  and  universities — for  a  few — or  is  it 
honestly  trying  to  educate  youth  for  life?  Does 
the  high  school  merely  weed  out  and  expel  boys 
who  dislike  Latin  and  French,  or  does  it  patiently 
teach  them,  carrying  them  along  at  a  pace  suited 
to  the  average  mind,  not  compelling  them  to  try 
to  run  with  the  swift?  Is  the  high  school  aristo- 
cratic or  democratic? 

d)  We  need  to  know  as  much  as  possible  about 
the  influence  of  the  school  on  morality,  on  char- 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  179 

acter,  and  we  can  get  some  indications  if  we 
study  the  records  of  deportment,  regularity,  and 
punctuality  of  attendance,  the  methods  of  disci- 
pline and  the  number  of  punishments  and  suspen- 
sions. 

e)  As  tax-payers  we  naturally  desire  to  know 
whether  our  money  is  expended  with  economy 
and  efficiency  and  whether  it  goes  without  pecula- 
tion or  waste  to  the  right  place.  Therefore  we 
have  a  right  to  seek  in  the  published  reports  of 
our  boards  of  education  light  on  such  questions 
as  these:  What  school  buildings  and  grounds  are 
owned  by  the  city?  What  is  their  value?  What 
is  their  condition  ?  What  is  the  number  of  rooms 
or  sittings  provided  ?  What  provisions  are  under 
way  for  congested  districts?  Which  buildings 
are  without  kindergartens  and  kitchens,  work- 
shops for  older  pupils?  What  is  the  relation  of 
the  accommodations  provided  by  the  buildings  of 
various  districts  to  the  number  of  children  of 
school  age  in  the  district,  or  to  the  number  of 
children  applying  for  admission?  What  is  the 
number  of  vacant  sittings,  and  to  what  ages  of 
children  do  they  correspond?  What  has  been  the 
annual  cost  for  a  series  of  years  of  the  school  sys- 
tem as  a  whole  ?  What  has  been  the  total  amount 
expended  for  such  items  as  salaries,  administra- 
tion,   fuel,   building,    repairs?     What   has   each 


i8o  Social  Duties 

school,  and  each  special  kind  or  grade  of  school 
cost,  in  totals  and  per  pupil?  What  is  the  cost 
of  fuel  per  pupil  each  year,  and  why  does  one 
school  pay  more  for  fuel  than  another?  Is  the 
waste  due  to  carelessness,  theft,  or  defective  heat- 
ing apparatus?  What  does  medical  inspection 
cost  per  pupil  per  year  ? 

Many  other  questions  need  to  be  asked,  and 
only  when  they  are  clearly  answered  can  the  sup- 
porters of  the  school  system  really  know  how  to 
praise  or  blame  or  criticize  the  institution  to 
which  a  vast  sum  is  contributed  out  of  public 
taxation.  To  this  kind  of  information  the  voters 
have  a  right ;  and  they  cannot  go  on  paying  taxes 
with  genuine  zeal  and  patriotism  without  having 
such  information.  Vague  appeals  to  sentiments 
of  patriotism  and  eloquent  declamation  about 
"our  glorious  school  system"  can  never  sustain 
the  burden  of  expense,  so  long  as  we  remain 
ignorant  of  the  actual  work  done,  the  results 
achieved,  and  the  cost  of  each  particular  form  of 
service  rendered. 

It  is  unfortunately  true  that  our  schools  suffer 
from  lack  of  public  support;  that  teachers'  salaries 
are  shamefully  low ;  that  in  many  districts  there 
are  not  enough  accommodations  for  seating  many 
children  of  compulsory  school  age;  that  play- 
grounds are  often  lacking ;  that  kindergartens  and 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  i8i 

industrial  departments  are  not  supplied.  But  all 
these  evils  will  be  most  swiftly  and  completely 
corrected  by  a  clear,  full,  and  readable  descrip- 
tion of  the  exact  resources  and  results  of  the 
system.  The  public  must  be  taken  into  the  confi- 
dence of  the  administrators;  all  the  newspapers 
must  be  furnished  with  a  steady  stream  of  reliable 
facts.  The  public  should  be  constantly  provoked 
and  incited  to  ask  questions.  Under  our  demo- 
cratic form  of  government  this  kind  of  scientific 
publicity  is  essential  to  sustained  popular  interest 
in  the  schools  and  adequate  support. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

E.  P.  Button,  Social  Phases  of  Education. 
J.  Dewey,  The  School  and  Society. 

2.  Co-Operation  of  teachers  with  parents. — In 
connection  with  each  public  school  there  should 
be  an  association  of  parents  and  teachers  at  whose 
meetings  at  least  the  more  enlightened  fathers  and 
mothers  would  confer  with  those  who  are  aiding 
them  in  their  parental  duty  of  developing  the 
powers  and  character  of  the  children.  At  such 
meetings  topics  of  common  interest  could  be 
treated  by  specialists  with  an  opportunity  for  free 
discussion.  Teachers  could  tell  their  aims,  their 
difficulties,  and  their  hopes,  while  parents  could 
ask   questions   and   offer   information   and   sug- 


i82  Social  Duties 

gestions.  If  there  is  need  of  playgrounds,  gar- 
dens, equipment  for  domestic  arts  and  trade 
training  there  would  be  a  considerable  number  of 
voters  ready  to  co-operate  in  securing  the  means 
for  extending  and  adopting  the  facilities  of  the 
school. 

3.  Citizens'  clubs  and  their  discussions. — In 
most  cities  there  are  clubs  of  men  and  of  women 
for  social  and  civic  purposes.  It  is  desirable  that 
each  one  of  these  have  a  standing  committee 
whose  duty  it  will  be  to  study  the  requirements  of 
the  public  schools  and  report  to  the  whole  mem- 
bership. By  a  standing  committee  on  education 
composed  of  delegates  from  all  the  clubs  a  policy 
could  be  defined  and  persistently  worked  out  with 
the  aid  of  thousands  of  citizens  in  many  callings. 

In  such  a  central  and  federated  committee  it 
would  be  just  and  wise  to  have  representatives  of 
the  trade  unions,  because  these  men  would  know 
most  of  the  probable  effect  of  any  measure  on 
their  facilities  and  their  material  interests.  The 
persistent  and  general  tendency  to  ignore  all 
associations  of  wage-earners  is  an  insult  which 
is  deeply  and  justly  felt;  in  a  democratic  country 
it  is  folly. 

4.  Settlements. — The  social  settlements,  so  far 
as  they  are  directed  by  educated  and  capable  resi- 
dents,  deserve  the  sympathy,  co-operation,   and 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  183 

assistance  of  the  churches.  They  have  often  suc- 
ceeded when  it  has  been  found  impossible  to 
continue  what  is  called  "missions."  They  have 
become,  in  many  urban  districts,  the  chief  meet- 
ing-place of  persons  of  all  social  classes  and  inter- 
ests who  desire  to  provide  means  of  culture  for 
working  people,  and  to  promote  their  material 
interests  as  well.  Many  conservative  persons 
stand  aloof  from  them  or  regard  them  with  sus- 
picion because  they  manifest  an  appreciation  for 
trade-unions  and  socialists,  because  they  do  not 
conduct  revivals  and  Sunday  schools,  because 
they  do  not  attempt  to  make  proselytes  to  Protes- 
tant churches,  because  the  residents  often  become 
quite  radical  themselves,  and  because  free  discus- 
sion is  tolerated  and  encouraged.  Thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  surroundings  of  the  settle- 
ments in  the  crowded  quarters  of  immigrant  popu- 
lations would  at  least  teach  critics  patience  and 
kindly  understanding  of  the  residents.  It  is  very 
easy,  cheap,  and  unprofitable  to  find  fault;  it  is 
much  more  difficult  and  more  useful  to  do  con- 
structive and  educative  work.  Before  condemn- 
ing the  settlements  let  the  class  of  men  try  to  do 
some  of  this  work  themselves. 

5.  Better  systems  of  taxation  to  supply  funds. 
— The  Federation  of  Teachers  in  Chicago  set  out 
to  improve  the  schools  and  secure  decent  salaries ; 


184  Social  Duties 

they  confronted  an  empty  treasury ;  they  made  an 
investigation  and  found  milHonaires  perjuring 
themselves  to  escape  just  assessments,  corpora- 
tions enjoying  valuable  franchise  privileges  with- 
out paying  for  them — public  officers  diverting 
funds  to  improper  uses.  They  went  to  the  legis- 
lature, the  courts,  and  the  council,  and  secured 
redress  and  improvement,  and  incidentally  made 
bitter  enemies  of  powerful  men  who  ought  from 
the  first  to  have  worked  with  them  without  com- 
pulsion from  the  courts.  It  is  an  illustration  of 
the  obstacles  encountered  by  the  friends  of  educa- 
tion. In  the  chapter  on  "Taxation"  these  matters 
are  discussed.  There  is  plenty  of  money  in  this 
country  for  better  schools  than  we  now  have,  if 
we  are  properly  taxed  and  our  funds  are  honestly 
administered. 

IV.       SOME  SPECIFIC  IMPROVEMENTS 

There  is  space  in  this  chapter  only  for  a  few 
examples  of  recent  improvements  and  experi- 
ments in  the  direction  of  fulfilling  the  social  pur- 
pose of  the  public  schools. 

A  lad  of  sixteen  years  was  asked  by  an  investi- 
gating committee  what  he  had  learned  in  the 
schools  which  helped  him  earn  a  living,  and  his 
answer  cuts  to  the  quick:  "Nothing;  because  I 
earn  my  living  with  my  hands."    The  schools  had 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  185 

never  educated  his  hands ;  they  did  not  offer  man- 
ual training.  Untrained  hands  are  held  out  to 
beg  or  become  nimble  in  petty  theft. 

Many  careful  observers  have  sought  the  causes 
of  failures  of  our  public  schools  and  have  tried 
experiments.  After  a  long  struggle  with  tradition 
and  prejudice  the  kindergarten  has  vindicated 
its  right  to  existence  and  support;  the  sloyd  and 
manual-training  schools  have  attracted  attention 
and  are  rapidly  being  established  in  urban  sys- 
tems. To  reform  deformed  boys  the  correctional 
schools  always  employ  these  methods;  but  it  is 
more  economical  and  effective  to  shape  the  habits 
aright  before  vicious  paths  are  entered.  On  the 
flinty  surface  of  narrow  lots  in  New  York  City 
little  gardens  have  been  cultivated  and  with  them 
a  finer  life  has  been  evoked  in  the  children  of 
tenements. 

The  vacation  school  is  a  recent  invention  of 
friends  of  children  who  could  not  endure  to  see 
the  poor  creatures  driven  about  aimlessly,  falling 
into  danger  and  mischief  during  the  long  summer 
weeks  when  the  school  buildings  are  closed.  It 
is  found  that  for  every  vacant  place  there  are 
many  applicants,  for  the  children  enjoy  activity; 
they  are  glad  to  escape  from  their  dingy,  close 
dwellings  and  from  the  dirt  and  danger,  the  sti- 
fling heat  of  the  streets,  to  play  and  sing  and  work 


i86  Social  Duties 

with  tools  under  genial  teachers.  All  the  better  if 
the  benign  influences  of  Bible  stories,  hymns  and 
reverent  prayer  can  be  mingled  with  play  and  tool 
practice,  and  long  walks  in  parks  and  romps  in 
shady  places.  Here  is  large  opportunity  for  co- 
operation of  classes  of  men  with  the  school 
authorities  and  special  associations  of  philan- 
thropic persons. 

The  educational  significance  of  play  has  been 
studied  more  in  recent  years  than  formerly.  The 
outdoor  playground  calls  for  a  special  training  of 
teachers  to  direct  the  sports  and  amusements  of 
the  young  and  to  prevent  bullying  by  big  boys.  A 
national  association,  with  an  organ,  has  under- 
taken to  champion  the  cause ;  cities  are  vying  with 
each  other  in  the  purchase  of  small  parks,  the 
provision  of  gymnastic  apparatus,  the  mainte- 
nance of  trained  instructors.  From  play  to  work 
is  only  a  step,  because  the  plays  of  children  are 
largely  imitation  of  the  serious  tasks  of  adults. 

The  indoor  amusements  of  children  and  youth 
are  educative,  sometimes  for  good,  sometimes  for 
evil.  Repression  is  impossible.  In  all  cities  cheap 
popular  amusements  have  had  an  astounding 
growth.  In  New  York  City  the  nickleodeon  alone 
entertains  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  children 
daily.  MilHons  of  dollars  are  being  invested  in 
dance-halls,  skating-rinks,  melodrama,  vaudeville, 


Urban  Educational  Agencies  187 

burlesque,  moving-picture  variety  shows,  penny 
arcades,  anatomical  museums,  beauty  shows,  and 
perhaps  others,  to  all  of  which  fine  people  are  sup- 
posed to  be  strangers.  Philanthropic  persons 
have  sought  legislation  to  prevent  abuses;  have 
asked  for  higher  license  fees  and  direct  control 
by  police ;  proper  ventilation  and  arrangements  to 
prevent  fire;  exclusion  of  school  children  from 
nickleodeons  during  school  hours  and  after  eight 
o'clock  at  night,  except  when  accompanied  by 
guardians.  But  these  are  merely  negative  meas- 
ures. We  should  positively  organize  agencies  for 
providing  sane,  wholesome,  and  elevating  amuse- 
ments at  prices  within  the  reach  of  families  of 
small  means.  These  amusements  may  be  made 
vehicles  for  cheerful  humor,  enjoyment  of  art 
and  travel,  music,  biography,  history,  and  the 
wonders  of  science,  and  the  occasion  for  kindly 
meetings  of  families  and  neighbors.^  Finally,  all 
instructed  friends  of  public  schools  are  urging 
improvement  in  methods  of  ethical  culture,  the 
development  of  character  as  the  crown  of  educa- 
tion. Thus  the  most  competent  leaders  of  the 
school  system  have  declared : 

We    earnestly    recommend    to    boards    of    education, 
principals,  and  teachers  the  continuous  training  of  pupils 

*  See   article   by  John   Collier  in   Charities  and   The   Com- 
mons, April  II,  1908,  p.  73. 


i88  Social  Duties 

in  morals  and  in  business  and  professional  ethics,  to  the 
end  that  the  coming  generation  of  men  of  affairs  may 
have  a  well-developed  abhorrence  of  unfair  dealing  and 
discrimination.* 

'  National   Education  Association  platform. 


CHAPTER  X 

DUTIES   OF  THE   CHURCH   IN  URBAN   COM- 
MUNITIES 

I.  THE   DUTY    OF    THE    CHURCH 

The  characteristic  duty  of  the  church  is  to  pro- 
mote worship,  to  further  reHgion — with  us  of 
course  the  Christian  reHgion.  ReHgion  has  sev- 
eral aspects.  It  is  hearing  the  word  of  God  sent 
through  man  to  mankind.  It  is  a  response  in 
worship  to  the  voices  of  God.  It  is  also  in- 
spiring and  directing  religious  motives  to  the 
good  of  humanity,  the  outflow  of  faithful  love  in 
varied  ministrations,  the  precise  form  of  minis- 
tration being  always  defined  by  the  need  of  the 
people  where  the  church  is  planted.  Hence  the 
particular  duties  of  a  Christian  congregation  in 
a  city  must  be  discovered  by  a  careful,  even  a 
scientific,  study  of  the  city  itself  and  its  problems. 

II.  AGENCIES    OF    THE    CHURCH 

The  Christian  church  is  responsible  for  its  vast 
and  growing  resources.  It  has  the  local  congre- 
gations of  all  denominations  with  their  real  estate, 
regular  incomes,  meeting-houses,  halls,  members 
with  varied  talents  and  social  influence.  The 
churches  have  created  and  now  support  various 
societies,  with  their  equipment :  The  Young  Men's 
i8o 


I  go  Social  Duties 

Christian  Association,  the  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Association,  and  others.  The  churches  have 
built  up  parochial  schools,  academies,  colleges, 
universities,  and  invested  in  these  many  millions 
of  money.  There  are  the  endowed  publication 
houses  and  their  rich  annual  income  from  sales. 
There  are  also  numerous  hospitals,  charitable  and 
reformatory  associations,  and  educational  agen- 
cies directly  or  indirectly  under  church  control  or 
influence. 

III.       PRINCIPLES    GOVERNING    THE    EMPLOYMENT 
OF  THESE  AGENCIES  IN  URBAN  COMMUNITIES 

In  our  theological  schools  the  arts  of  preach- 
ing, pastoral  service,  church  administration,  re- 
ligious teaching  and  missionary  labor  are  taught ; 
and  the  teaching  has  been  embodied  systematically 
in  a  large  number  of  books.  It  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  we  should  attempt  to  repeat  this 
instruction  here.  We  shall  seek  only  to  bring  to 
consciousness  certain  factors  which  are  too  much 
overlooked  and  neglected  by  church  workers  in 
cities. 

I.  Of  the  moral  necessity  of  "making  dis- 
ciples" of  men  of  all  nations  there  is  in  theory  no 
doubt.  All  Christian  churches  admit  the  duty, 
and  a  Christian  man  who  can  remain  quite  easy 
in  mind  without  at  least  doing  a  little  to  proclaim 


The  Church  in  Urban  Communities         191 

the  gospel  throughout  the  city  is  a  rarity,  let  us 
hope.  The  command  of  the  Lord  is  plain ;  the 
need  of  the  people  is  apparent ;  all  the  value  we 
set  on  our  religion  makes  it  imperative  to  share 
our  best  treasures  with  our  less-favored  neigh- 
bors. Few  of  us  have  quite  forgotten  that  we  are 
saved  by  Him  who  seeks  the  lost. 

2.  We  must  pass  with  bare  mention  the  tradi- 
tional and  ordinary  methods  of  evangelization : 
the  family  life,  the  Sunday  school,  the  church 
services.  We  are  acquainted,  at  least  in  well-to- 
do  neighborhoods,  with  the  "attractive"  methods 
of  securing  attendance,  the  eloquent  preacher,  the 
popular  music,  the  lighted  audience  room,  the 
genial  welcome.  Then,  when  we  discover  that 
many  refuse  to  be  attracted,  we  go  out  aggres- 
sively to  "compel  them  to  come  in."  Street 
preaching  is  practiced,  at  least  by  the  Salvation 
Army  and  by  some  regular  ministers  whose  zeal 
burns  hotly.  Here  and  there  we  invade  a  theater 
or  popular  concert  hall  and  touch  a  new 
audience. 

Recently  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion has  secured  a  brief  hearing  for  a  kind  and 
genial  message  at  the  noon  hour  in  shops.  Multi- 
tudes hear  the  gospel;  alas!  m.ultitudes  are  indif- 
ferent. The  statistics  of  Protestant  work  in  our 
larger  cities  are  depressing. 


192  Social  Duties 

IV.       MINISTRY  OF  THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  GENERAL 
WELFARE  OF  URBAN  POPULATIONS 

We  have  already  indicated  the  service  of  the 
church  in  respect  to  the  highest,  noblest,  most 
enduring  element  of  welfare — the  life  of  worship. 
Whatever  the  church  does  or  leaves  undone  it 
must  help  men  to  love  God. 

But  is  preaching  the  only  way  to  persuade  man- 
kind to  love  God?  How  do  we  teach  our  own 
children  to  love  us?  Merely  by  catechisms  on 
filial  duties  ?  Chiefly  rather  by  caresses,  by  food, 
by  comfort,  by  all  sorts  of  deeds  and  sacrifices 
through  the  years.  God  never  breaks  the  silence 
with  mere  words ;  he  speaks  in  perpetual  gifts  of 
fruitful  earth  and  kind  human  nature.  He  gave 
his  Son,  and  only  after  Calvary  was  the  gospel 
reduced  to  a  written  word.  The  church  must 
learn  the  divine  way  to  men's  hearts,  and  must 
show  its  faith  by  its  works  of  love;  and  so  in  all 
its  best  ages  it  has  done;  only  now  the  task  is 
more  difficult. 

I.  The  settlement  method. — The  common 
ground  of  friendship  and  sociability  is  first  of  all 
to  know  our  neighbors  in  cities.  We  must  have 
at  least  some  representatives  of  the  churches  who 
live  in  daily,  friendly,  sympathetic  contact  with 
the  people.  The  Protestant  churches  are  very 
generally  a  long  distance  from  the  colonies  and 


The  Church  in  Urban  Communities        193 

districts  of  immigrants  and  laborers,  and  there- 
fore our  pastors,  teachers,  and  members  have  a 
very  dim  notion  of  the  hopes,  fears,  anxieties, 
ambitions,  tastes,  behefs,  sufferings,  prejudices, 
sacrifices,  and  character  of  the  multitudes  who 
come  from  other  lands,  bringing  their  customs 
and  faiths  with  them.  Stupid  blunders  are  com- 
mitted by  kind  people  because  they  wound  feel- 
ings of  persons  whose  springs  of  conduct  are 
different  from  their  own.^ 

The  tendency  of  immigrants  to  gather  and  re- 
main in  cities,  especially  cities  of  the  northern 
states,  creates  a  situation  which  makes  church 
work  extremely  difficult  and  also  exceedingly 
important.  Something  can  be  learned  from  books 
and  magazine  articles,  but  more  from  residence 
near  the  people  to  be  helped. 

Any  family  can  establish  a  settlement.  Whether 
it  is  wise  to  take  young  children  into  a  doubtful 
neighborhood  each  man  must  judge  for  himself. 
Many  a  district  of  poor  people  is  quite  as  virtuous 
as  a  boulevard,  if  not  so  fine.  But  a  young  physi- 
cian, lawyer,  skilled  artisan,  teacher,  business 
man,  can  make  his  residence  for  a  few  years  in  a 
neighborhood  of  wage  earners  and  make  friends 

^The  Church  and  the  Immigrant  in  Cities;  Howard  B. 
Grose,  Aliens  or  Americans? ;  John  R.  Commons,  Races  and 
Immigrants  in  America. 


194  Social  Duties 

among  them.  If  he  is  democratic  and  tactful  he 
may  acquire  political  influence  among  them  and 
help  them  secure  more  efficient  administration  of 
city  government. 

Cities  must  have  an  agency  to  mediate  between 
the  immigrants  and  the  religious,  educational,  and 
political  institutions  already  established.  A  Pro- 
testant church  in  a  colony  of  Catholics  or  Jews  is 
hated ;  a  "mission"  is  despised ;  the  form  of  ser- 
vice is  repulsive;  the  crude  music  of  the  Salvation 
Army  jars  on  the  nerves  of  the  Italians.  With 
the  kindest  intentions  our  church  methods  often 
collide  with  the  feelings  of  people  we  would  win, 
because  we  do  not  know  them.  They  do  not 
understand  us  nor  our  language;  our  creed  is 
heresy  to  them;  all  attempts  to  proselyte  are  re- 
garded as  devilish  enticements  to  disloyalty  to 
ancestral  faith. 

Between  hostile  camps  we  need  a  common 
ground  for  meeting  under  a  white  flag  of  truce. 
The  public  school  is  one  such  place,  for  there 
partisanship  in  politics  and  creed  is  forbidden. 
But  the  public  school  has  its  limitations.  The 
social  settlement  in  American  cities  is  intended  to 
do  what  "missions"  cannot  do.  To  offer  a 
foreign  colony  a  mission  is  to  brand  them  aliens 
and  godless,  as  well  as  inferior.  This  is  resented; 
for  the  immigrant  becomes  democratic,  equal  of 


The  Church  in  Urban  Communities        195 

all,  when  his  toes  touch  Ellis  Island.  The  settle- 
ment has  an  open  door  and  permits  free  discus- 
sion which  few  churches  can  tolerate.  If  a 
workingman  cannot  express  his  own  ideas  on  an 
equality  with  others  he  turns  his  back  on  the  place 
in  contempt,  and  warns  his  comrades  to  keep 
away.  Many  of  the  dingy  halls,  where  services 
are  conducted  by  ill-trained  leaders,  are  felt  to 
be  an  insult.  The  settlement  has  very  often 
broad-minded,  educated  residents  who  are  genial 
and  patient  with  people  who  differ  from  them  in 
many  ways.  He  who  goes  among  workingmen  to 
"convert"  them  to  his  own  economic,  political,  or 
theological  creed  soon  finds  that  his  neighbors 
prefer  to  convert  him;  at  least  they  will  not  give 
him  more  than  half  the  time.  A  dogmatist  or 
revivalist  of  a  common  type  does  more  harm  than 
good,  and  in  all  our  cities  the  churches  and  mis- 
sions have  steadily  retreated  before  the  immigrant 
flood.  The  settlements  are  sometimes  overrated; 
they  are  few  and  feeble  in  resources;  but  they 
have  a  use  and  perform  an  indispensable  service 
as  interpreters  of  citizens  to  each  other. 

In  a  great  city  an  economic  or  political  revolu- 
tion may  ripen  before  college  professors  or 
preachers  even  know  of  its  beginnings.  The 
settlement  residents  of  the  best  kind  act  as  out- 
posts and  observers  and  warn  us  of  the  danger  of 


ig6  Social  Duties 

our  neglect.  In  our  comfortable  homes  and  lux- 
urious churches,  especially  when  we  dodge  taxes 
and  duties  in  suburban  residences,  we  know  the 
Bohemian,  Lithuanian,  and  Polish  laborers  no 
better  than  if  they  were  still  over  sea.  We  need 
settlements  to  discover  the  facts  and  illumine 
our  ignorance  and  correct  our  provincial  conceit 
and  Phariseeism. 

Many  earnest  Christians  will  have  nothing  to 
do  with  settlements,  count  it  a  sin  to  give  them 
money,  because  they  do  not  hold  revival  meetings 
or  Sunday  schools.  This  is  unreasonable ;  for  the 
same  persons  pay  for  the  support  of  public 
schools,  parks,  art  galleries,  and  other  public 
means  of  good  with  which  prayer-meetings  are 
not  connected.  Has  anyone  heard  of  an  evan- 
gelical deacon  or  minister  who  refused  a  lo  per 
cent,  dividend  in  a  bank  or  gas  company  because 
the  directors  did  not  say  grace  before  they  voted 
payments  on  shares  ?  Let  us  be  consistent.  Some 
of  the  most  vital  and  important  methods  of  church 
work  have  been  suggested  by  experience  in  settle- 
ments. 

2.  Philanthropic  activities. — The  social  serv- 
ice of  members  of  the  church  will  ordinarily  be 
applied  most  economically  and  fruitfully  through 
other  organizations.  It  is  unwise  for  each  church 
to   establish  and   maintain   its   own   institutions. 


The  Church  in  Urban  Communities         197 

hospitals,  child-saving  societies,  newsboys'  homes, 
day  nurseries,  custodial  asylums  for  the  feeble- 
minded, playgrounds,  free  baths,  schools,  wage- 
earners'  societies,  insurance  companies,  political 
reform  societies,  and  scores  of  others. 

There  are  cases,  of  course,  where  an  indi- 
vidual church  may  have  the  wealth  and  power  to 
erect  an  institution  of  some  importance,  and  it 
may  be  duty  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity. 
But  all  the  really  great  social  work  can  be  done 
only  by  co-operation  of  all  well-disposed  people  in 
the  city.  But  will  not  the  church  fail  to  get  credit 
for  its  charity  if  it  joins  forces  with  citizens  in 
general,  many  of  whom  may  be  heretics  and 
agnostics?  This  fear  is  frequently  expressed. 
But  is  the  church  so  poor  in  good  works  that  it 
needs  to  stand  apart  from  its  neighbors?  Is  the 
first  consideration  a  reputation?  Is  not  the  pri- 
mary duty  to  do  good  in  the  wisest  way  and  leave 
to  God  and  man  the  care  of  reputation?  Is  the 
principle  of  Jesus  not  applicable  to  churches  as 
to  individual  Christians  that  one  must  lay  down 
his  life,  even  bury  it  as  good  seed  is  covered,  in 
order  that  life  may  be  abundant?  That  church 
which  manifests  all  the  traits  of  a  frank,  vigor- 
ous, sensible,  and  co-operative  neighbor  will  have 
all  the  credit  it  deserves  for  its  generous  deeds, 
while  if  it  shrivels  into  a  petty  representative  of 


iq8  Social  Duties 

schism  and  sect  it  loses  touch  with  all  the 
large-minded  men  who  are  trying  to  establish 
philanthropic  enterprises  on  modern  scientific 
foundations  and  on  a  scale  worthy  of  the  city  and 
adequate  to  its  demands.  In  division  and  selfish- 
ness there  is  weakness ;  in  union  there  is  strength. 

A  few  examples  will  illustrate  the  meaning,  and 
they  will  be  given  in  connection  with  an  analysis 
of  the  philanthropic,  educational,  reformatory 
and  political  movements  which  call  for  a  vast 
number  of  zealous,  able,  and  persistent  workers. 

Familiar  acquaintance  with  the  people  of  a 
city  will  reveal  more  or  less  distinct  groups  or 
strata,  each  with  its  own  problems  and  require- 
ments, each  calling  for  a  different  and  suitable 
kind  of  social  service. 

The  depressed. — Under  this  designation  we  in- 
clude for  the  present  discussion :  ( i )  Dependents ; 
(2) defectives;  (3)  abnormals;  (4)  the  anti- 
social, vicious  and  criminal.^  The  work  of  the 
church  to  the  members  of  these  groups  has  of  late 
years  been  called  the  "Inner  Mission."  This  field 
is  so  wide,  its  problems  so  complex,  and  the  co- 
operation of  the  commonwealth  outside  of  cities 
so  necessary  that  it  is  given  a  special  chapter  in 
this  series.     At  this  point  we  may  ask  considera- 

'  See  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Dependent,  Defective, 
and  Delinquent  Classes,  by  C,  R.  Henderson. 


The  Church  in  Urban  Communities         199 

tion  for  certain  principles  which  should  govern 
the  relation  of  the  church  to  charities  and  correc- 
tions. 

The  church  should  regard  all  its  charity  as  only 
a  part  of  the  philanthropic  system  of  the  city  and 
of  the  commonwealth.  If  it  gives  relief  to  needy 
families  in  their  homes  it  should  be  in  full  knowl- 
edge of  what  is  done  by  other  agencies  for  the 
same  families.  Every  church  should  have  a  rep- 
resentative in  the  district  committee  of  the  charity 
organization  society,  by  whatever  name  that  or- 
ganization may  be  locally  known.  Generally  the 
members  of  a  church  can  do  more  effective  service 
by  co-operating  with  some  existing  charitable 
society,  and  carrying  into  it  the  fervor  and  zeal  of 
religion,  than  by  adding  another  feeble  agency  to 
the  multitude  already  existing. 

The  organization  of  municipal  charities  is  not 
a  function  of  a  church,  and  it  must  be  under  the 
guidance  of  experts.  No  doubt  a  group  of  young 
Christians  or  of  benevolent  women  may  accept 
from  a  charity  organization  society  a  specific  task 
to  be  carried  out  in  harmony  with  what  other 
groups  are  doing,  under  the  trained  directors ;  but 
it  is  wasteful  and  selfish  to  work  without  regard 
to  the  general  plan,  ignore  others,  and  almost 
certainly  interfere  with  wise  and  comprehensive 
plans. 


200  Social  Duties 

For  defectives — the  blind,  the  deaf,  the  crippled 
— the  churches,  as  such,  have  no  proper  facilities 
for  education;  but  they  ought  not  to  neglect  and 
forget  the  municipal  and  state  schools  which  train 
such  children.  In  cases  of  destitution  churches 
may  well  supplement  the  public  schools  by  gifts 
and  by  personal  friendly  attentions.  At  present 
comparatively  little  is  done  for  crippled  children, 
and  yet  there  are  many  of  them,  and  their  need  of 
protection  is  often  very  great. ^ 

The  abnormals  (feeble-minded,  idiotic,  imbe- 
cile, insane,  epileptic)  are  a  state  charge  and 
require  public  care  and  custody.  The  church  has 
no  call  in  this  country  to  erect  and  maintain 
hospitals  and  colonies  for  their  proper  treatment ; 
but  here  again  representatives  of  the  church 
should  visit  the  state  institutions,  study  their 
methods  and  results,  help  to  prevent  abuses  and 
aid  the  authorities  in  securing  grants  of  legisla- 
ures  for  needed  improvements. 

The  anti-social — vicious  and  criminal — must  be 
watched  and  disciplined  chiefly  by  the  state,  by 
counties,  and  by  cities.  Churches  can  help  mem- 
bers of  these  classes  best  through  "Howard 
Associations,"  refuges  for  erring  girls,  prisoners' 
aid  societies,  etc. 

'  Write  to  editor  of  Children's  Charities,  79  Dearborn  St., 
Chicago,  for  information  about  an  institution  for  crippled 
children. 


The  Church  in  Urban  Communities        201 

3.  Co-operation  with  wage  earners. — The  sec- 
ond great  group  is  composed  of  wage  earners 
and  their  famihes.  They  only  occasionally  need 
charitable  relief,  when  individuals  drop  down 
out  of  the  wage  earners'  group  into  the  group  of 
the  depressed.  It  is  a  fatal  mistake  of  many  well- 
meaning  church  leaders  to  offer  charity  to  mem- 
bers of  this  group.  The  offer  is  felt  as  an  insult. 
The  demand  of  industrial  men  is  for  justice,  a 
fair  chance,  not  for  philanthropy  and  patronage. 
The  elements  of  a  social  policy  affecting  the  inter- 
ests of  this  group,  especially  in  cities,  have  been 
discussed  elsewhere.* 

4.  Attitude  of  the  church  to  the  rich. — There 
is  another  group  which  requires  quite  as  serious 
study  and  earnest  effort  of  the  church — the  busi- 
ness class,  the  captains  of  industry,  and  the  leisure 
class,  which  seems  to  be  emerging  from  the  busy 
group.  Indeed  there  are  very  marked  evidences 
that  a  considerable  number  of  Americans  are  kill- 
ing themselves  by  excessive  devotion  to  business 
in  order  that  their  children  may  vegetate  in  the 
next  generation  as  parasites  on  the  industrious. 
This  is  not  true  of  all  rich  people;  but  it  is  already 
a  notorious  evil  and  is  rapidly  increasing. 

5.  Education. — The  opportunity  of  the  church 
in  relation  to  education  is  indicated  in  another 

*  See  chap,  v,  "Social  Duties  to  Workingmen." 


202  Social  Duties 

place.  It  is  vastl}''  better  for  the  church  to  help 
create  intelligent  interest  in  the  public  schools 
than  to  duplicate  the  buildings  and  grounds  and 
maintain  parochial  schools,  leaving  the  public 
schools  to  suffer  by  neglect  or  even  by  enmity. 

6.  Political  life  in  cities  sadly  needs  the  aid  of 
the  church ;  but  not  by  alliance  with  parties.  This 
is  discussed  in  other  places. 

"And  I  saw  the  holy  city And  I  saw  no 

temple  therein"  (Rev.  21:2,  22).  The  most 
sacred  city  needs  no  sun  because  God  is  its  light, 
no  sanctuary  because  all  is  holy.  This  is  the  ideal 
toward  which  the  church  in  a  city  works,  the 
sanctification  of  streets,  alleys,  shops,  parks, 
recreations,  government,  business. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND   DISCUSSION 

Learn  the  number  of  persons  and  families  of  various 
races  and  nations  in  the  city,  or  in  the  county.  Discover 
to  what  religious  denomination  they  belong  and  how 
many  have  abandoned  all  churches.  Make  a  map  of  the 
district  showing  the  distribution  of  foreigners,  the  loca- 
tion of  their  churches  and  parochial  schools.  Learn 
something  of  the  country  of  their  origin;  its  laws,  cus- 
toms, faiths. 

Learn  about  the  industries,  dwellings,  education, 
political  activities  of  the  foreigners  of  the  district.  What 
is  their  attitude  to  the  saloon?  What  good  qualities  do 
they  manifest? 

Inquire  at  the  post-office  how  much  money  they  send 


The  Church  in  Urban  Communities         203 

each  year  to  their   relatives   abroad,   and    for   what   pur- 
poses. 

REFERENCES   TO   LITERATURE 
W.   Gladden,    The   Christian  Pastor  and   the    Working 
Church. 

G.  W.  Mead,  Modern  Methods  of  Church  Work. 
C.  R.  Henderson,  Social  Settlements. 
Mrs.  F.  H.  Montgomery,  Bibliography  of  Settlements. 
J.  Strong,  The  Challenge  of  the  City. 


CHAPTER  XI 

SOCIAL  DUTIES   OF  URBAN   LIFE:   MUNICIPAL 
GOVERNMENT 

In  order  to  know  our  duties  in  relation  to  mu- 
nicipal government  we  must  first  learn  what  that 
government  actually  does;  for  the  conditions 
define  duties,  when  taken  in  connection  with  the 
essential  values  of  human  life.  The  determina- 
tion of  the  duty  of  a  city  government  is  the  result 
of  a  most  complicated  calculation  of  probabilities, 
reasoning  from  past  experience  and  from  the 
consequences  of  experiments  in  all  the  cities  of 
the  world.  There  is  no  short  cut  and  easy  path 
to  a  judgment.  A  wise  and  valuable  decision 
must  rest  on  a  consideration  of  all  the  needs  of 
the  people,  physical,  economic,  and  spiritual;  on 
a  consideration  of  all  the  possible  means  and 
methods  of  supplying  these  needs — individual 
effort,  voluntary  association,  private  corporations, 
municipal  management  and  administration. 

I.       RELATION    OF    MUNICIPAL   TO    STATE   GOVERN- 
MENT 

I.  The   modern   city   derives  all   its   powers 

from   the  state,    these   powers   are   defined   and 

limited    in    an    instrument    vested    by    the    state 

legislature  and  called  a  "charter."    The  activities 

204 


Duties  of  Urban  Life  205 

which  a  municipal  administration  may  legally 
conduct  are  carefully  enumerated  in  this  docu- 
ment, and  beyond  this  particular  list  of  activi- 
ties the  council  and  mayor  cannot  pass.  This 
is  the  general  tendency  in  this  country;  in 
some  European  countries  cities  can  undertake 
almost  any  local  enterprises  which  do  not  clash 
with  state  laws  or  agencies  of  administration.  It 
is  now  generally  believed  by  competent  authori- 
ties that  cities  should  have  a  larger  measure  of 
liberty  and  "home  rule,"  so  far  as  purely  local 
interests  are  involved. 

2.  The  city  government  is  an  agency  of  the 
state  government  for  certain  general  purposes, 
such  as  the  maintenance  of  order  and  security, 
the  care  of  public  health,  and  public  education. 
Laws  regulating  the  liquor  traffic,  gambling,  vice, 
and  crime,  are  made  by  the  state  legislature,  and 
officers  of  a  city  are  bound  by  their  oath  of  office 
to  enforce  these  laws,  whether  they  approve  them 
or  not.  Even  if  state  laws  are  locally  unpopular 
the  city  officials  perjure  themselves  when  they 
neglect  any  practicable  means  of  making  them 
effective. 

Because  of  this  close  dependence  of  municipal 
upon  state  government  the  city  administration 
must,  at  least  in  certain  fields,  be  carefully  super- 
vised and  controlled  by  the  higher  authorities, 


2o6  Social  Duties 

yet  not  in  such  a  way  as  to  cripple,  impede,  and 
corrupt  local  enterprise. 

II.       THE   BUSINESS   OF   A   CITY   GOVERNMENT 

1.  First  and  before  all  else,  a  municipality  must 
preserve  order  and  protect  life,  person,  and  prop- 
erty. Without  a  sense  of  security  industry  is 
paralyzed,  wages  cease,  capital  hides,  enterprise 
is  checked,  progress  is  stayed.  The  power  of  a 
city  government  to  maintain  order  is  severely 
tested  in  the  case  of  a  strike  attended  by  violence, 
especially  when  a  large  part  of  the  public  is  in 
sympathy  with  the  strikers  in  their  effort  to  better 
conditions.  Another  crisis  comes  when  a  negro 
attacks  a  white  woman,  as  in  Spring^eld,  Illinois, 
in  1908,  and  public  indignation  breaks  down  the 
barriers  of  legal  authority  and  demands  instant 
vengeance.  Strongly  as  we  detest  the  brutal 
assault  we  must  submit  our  cause  to  the  courts 
of  justice  rather  than  to  the  blind  fury  of  a  mob. 
If  courts  are  dilatory  we  must  correct  their  pro- 
cedure, not  set  them  aside  and  return  to  social 
chaos  and  barbarism.  Lawlessness  breeds  law- 
lessness. 

2.  Municipal  administration  must  care  for  the 
conditions  of  physical  health.  The  general  laws 
which  are  sufficient  to  protect  health  in  the  open 
country,  with  houses  far  apart,  are  utterly  inade- 


Duties  of  Urban  Life  207 

quate  in  crowded  towns  and  large  cities.  The 
individual  citizen  cannot  protect  himself  under 
urban  conditions;  he  is  compelled  to  rely  on 
municipal  officials  to  provide  sewage,  drainage, 
pure  drinking-water,  means  of  detecting  and  pre- 
venting the  sale  of  impure  milk,  spoiled  meat,  and 
vegetables,  and  the  placing  of  decaying  matter 
where  it  will  poison  the  air.  These  are  interests 
which  cannot  be  left  to  individuals  and  corpora- 
tions and  to  the  motive  of  private  profit. 

The  commissioner  of  health  of  Chicago,  Dr. 
W.  A.  Evans,  publishes  a  bulletin  for  all  citizens, 
on  which  he  prints  the  saying  of  an  eminent  legis- 
lator: "Sanitary  instruction  is  even  more  import- 
ant than  sanitary  legislation."  When  we  see  how 
many  lives  are  filled  with  pain,  how  many  chil- 
dren and  useful  adults  die  every  year  because  of 
ignorance  of  hygiene,  we  can  understand  how 
a  health  officer  must  secure  the  co-operation  of 
citizens,  not  only  by  giving  orders  and  making 
arrests,  but  also  by  opening  the  eyes  of  the 
people  to  their  perils  and  their  duties. 

Parks,  playgrounds,  and  public  baths  are  estab- 
lished and  administered  by  city  governments  or 
local  boards.  They  are  not  only  necessary  for 
promoting  the  physical  well-being  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, but  they  are  also  desirable  as  means  of 
refinement  of  taste,  as  resorts  for  sociability  and 


2o8  Social  Duties 

as  substitutes  for  drinking-halls.  It  is  now  known 
that  energetic  play  in  the  open  air,  when  under 
the  direction  of  properly  trained  teachers  and 
freed  from  positive  temptation  of  perverted  per- 
sons, is  one  of  the  most  valuable  means  of  pre- 
venting the  sexual  degradation  of  boys  and  girls. 
But  young  persons  cannot  safely  be  permitted 
to  run  wild  in  public  parks ;  they  must  be  under 
the  vigilant  eye  of  proper  guardians  and  directors. 

3.  It  is  now  generally  admitted  that  city  gov- 
ernments must  be  charged  with  the  duty,  under 
state  laws,  of  establishing  and  maintaining  free 
public  schools  and  other  agencies  of  education 
and  culture.  It  is  easily  possible  for  cities  to 
provide  a  more  complete  system  of  schools  than 
the  rural  districts  can  yet  supply,  because  taxable 
wealth  and  population  are  more  concentrated  in  a 
relatively  crowded  area.  Urban  populations  also 
require  much  more  varied  forms  of  instruction 
than  is  necessary  in  the  country.  Therefore  cities 
are  permitted  by  law  to  extend  and  maintain 
their  own  schools,  since  they  not  only  meet  but 
surpass  the  average  requirement  for  the  state  at 
large. 

Under  our  constitution,  institutions,  and  politi- 
cal beliefs,  municipalities  have  no  direct  task  to 
perform  in  connection  with  religion  and  churches, 
except  to  afford  the  protection  to  which  all  legiti- 


Duties  of  Urban  Life  209 

mate  associations  are  entitled  and  to  extend  such 
exemption  from  taxation  as  is  due  to  agencies 
which  work  self-sacrificingly  for  the  common 
welfare  without  hope  of  pecuniary  profit. 

4.  Whether  city  governments  should  undertake 
any  business  enterprise  which  private  corpora- 
tions are  prepared  to  cari-y  on  is  a  separate  prob- 
lem which  must  not  be  hastily  passed  over.  It 
seems  to  be  the  final  verdict  of  experience  that  the 
enterprise  of  supplying  water  to  the  public  is  so 
closely  connected  with  control  of  the  conditions 
of  public  health  that  it  cannot  safely  be  entrusted 
to  corporations  whose  end  is  profit.  The  argu- 
ment is  not  so  clear  and  opinions  are  not  so 
united  when  we  come  to  such  public  services  as 
lighting,  transportation  and  telephones. 

III.       THE    ORGANIZATION    OF    CITY    GOVERNMENT 

In  order  to  transact  the  business  of  an  urban 
community  a  municipal  government  must  have  a 
legal  organization  in  which  each  citizen  and 
official  is  responsible  for  a  defined  duty  and  is 
authorized  to  act  in  a  certain  way.  This  organi- 
zation is  fixed  by  the  terms  of  the  state-granted 
charter. 

I.  There  is  the  electorate,  the  body  of  voters 
who  have  the  legal  right  to  elect  their  officers 
and  so  control  the  administration. 


2IO  Social  Duties 

2.  The  council  has  not  only  limited  legislative 
powers  but  considerable  work  in  actual  adminis- 
tration. The  legislative  work  is  done  by  passing 
general  ordinances  controlling  the  conduct  of 
citizens  in  many  ways;  and  the  administrative 
activity  of  the  council  is  through  committees 
charged  with  specific  tasks,  with  the  obligation 
to  report  to  the  council,  unless  given  power  to  act. 

3.  The  executive  and  administrative  work  of 
a  municipality  is  carried  on  by  the  mayor,  council 
committees,  and  by  officials  and  departments. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 
a)  The  mayor} — The  powers  of  the  mayor 
differ  in  various  cities  according  to  their  char- 
ters. The  tendency  in  this  country  is  to  increase 
the  authority  of  the  mayor,  give  him  the  power 
of  appointment  and  discharge,  make  him  inde- 
pendent of  the  council  and  make  him  responsible 
for  the  success  or  faults  of  departments. 

It  would  be  well  for  the  class  to  appoint  a  member  to 
bring  in  an  abstract  of  the  chapter  of  Goodnow's  City 
Government  in  the  United  States,  on  the  "City  Execu- 
tive" (chap.  viii).  With  his  argument  before  it,  the 
class  might  weigh  the  arguments  for  and  against:  (i) 
long  and  short  terms  of  the  mayor's  tenure  of  office ; 
(2)  the  British  system  of  securing  amenal)ility  to  public 
opinion,  with  efficiency  by  means  of  unpaid  council  com- 

'  F.  J.  Goodnow,  City  Government  in  the  United  States, 
pp.  176  ff. ;  J.  A.  Fairlie,  Municipal  Administration. 


Duties  of  Urban  Life  211 

mittees  having  as  agents  professional  and  salaried  ex- 
perts for  details  of  administration;  (3)  separation  of 
local  from  national  politics;  (4) the  merit  system  of  ap- 
pointment and  retention  of  salaried  officers  in  subordi- 
nate positions;  (5)  organization  of  boards  rather  than 
one-man  power  by  heads  of  departments ;  (6)  adminis- 
tration of  public  schools  by  a  board  having  under  it  a 
professional  expert  as  superintendent,  the  board  fixing 
general  policies  and  the  superintendent  being  responsi- 
ble for  carrying  them  out. 

It  would  also  be  profitable  to  discuss  the  suggestion 
that  a  large  city  should  be  divided  into  districts,  each 
with  a  neighborhood  center,  with  its  offices  for  courts, 
elections,  police,  fire  department,  and  dignified  buildings 
near  school  and  recreation  grounds.  A  special  study  of 
the  government  of  Paris  would  be  useful. 

b)  Police  department.^ — It  is  the  duty  of  this 
department  to  maintain  order,  carry  state  laws 
into  execution,  enforce  municipal  ordinances,  co- 
operate with  the  health  authorities,  and  perform 
various  tasks  assigned  them  by  the  municipal 
government. 

c)  School  department^  and  other  agencies  of 
culture  and  recreation. — This  department  is 
sometimes  almost  independent  in  its  administra- 
tion. Its  members  may  be  appointed  by  the 
mayor  or  elected  by  popular  vote.  Its  duty  is  to 
maintain   and   improve   the   system   of   common 

"  Goodnow,  op.  cit.,  pp.  204  flF. 
'  Goodnow,  op.  cit.,  pp.  262  ff. 


212  Social  Duties 

schools  and  adapt  them  to  the  needs  of  the  people. 
The  direct  administration  is  usually  intrusted  to 
a  professional  educator,  the  superintendent  of 
schools. 

d)  Physical  conditions  and  public  zvorks} — 
These  include  the  fire  department,  the  health  de- 
partment, streets  and  bridges,  means  of  transpor- 
tation and  communication,  lighting,  sewers  and 
drains. 

e)  Care  of  dependents  and  delinquents.^ — In 
some  cities  the  municipal  government  does  not 
offer  relief  to  needy  families  in  their  homes,  but 
confines  its  charity  to  giving  relief  in  institutions. 
In  Chicago  the  benevolent  operations  of  the 
people  are  administered  by  the  county  and  not  by 
the  city  authorities. 

The  control  and  correction  of  law-breakers 
must  be  in  the  hands  of  public  officials ;  although 
in  case  of  reformatory  schools  for  youth  the 
municipality  may  subsidize  private  institutions. 

/)  City  finances.^ — Elsewhere  we  have  con- 
sidered the  principles  of  revenue  from  taxation. 
Modern  municipalities  with  numerous  depart- 
ments have  frequently  permitted  their  accounts 

*  Goodnow,  op.  cit.,  p.  274. 
^  Goodnow,  op.  cit.,  pp.  248  ff. 

°  Goodnow,  op.  cit.,  p.  286 ;  W.  H.  Allen,  Efficient  Democ- 
racy. 


Duties  of  Urban  Life  213 

to  become  so  confused  that  dishonest  men  easily 
plunder  the  treasury  without  much  danger  of 
detection,  and  the  taxpayers  are  unable  to  learn 
what  each  form  of  service  costs  them  and  what 
they  receive  in  return  for  their  expenditures. 
One  of  the  important  reforms  most  urgent  now  is 
that  of  introducing  a  system  of  records  and  re- 
ports which  will  enable  business  men  to  see 
clearly  the  working,  efficiency,  and  cost  of  every 
department,  and  know  just  what  person  should  be 
praised  or  punished. 

IV.       PUBLIC    CONTROL    OF    CITY    GOVERNMENT 

I.  The  nature  and  necessity  of  public  control. 
— City  government  is  created  and  supported  by 
the  people,  at  immense  cost,  to  administer  certain 
kinds  of  affairs,  to  render  definite  services.  Too 
often  the  men  elected  or  appointed,  as  soon  as 
they  are  in  office,  resent  any  inquiry  from  citizens 
about  their  conduct,  and  even  conspire  to  keep 
information  from  the  electorate. 

It  must  be  evident  that  it  is  the  right  and  the 
duty  of  the  people  to  know  what  their  servants 
are  doing  with  their  money  and  with  the  power 
intrusted  to  them.  It  is  one  of  the  plainest  les- 
sons of  history  that  men  are  inclined  to  abuse 
power  unless  they  are  held  to  strict  account.  The 
best  public  men  are  glad  to  have  their  adminis- 


214  Social  Duties 

tration  thoroughly  scrutinized.  It  is  also  mani- 
fest that  each  individual  citizen  cannot  for  him- 
self discover  the  facts  about  the  administration 
of  many  municipal  offices.  It  would  introduce 
endless  confusion  and  obstruct  public  business  if 
every  man  could  at  any  moment  insist  upon  ex- 
amining the  books  of  the  various  departments  to 
see  what  was  done  with  his  money  paid  as  taxes. 
Few  citizens  have  the  skill  in  accounts  which 
would  make  their  investigations  of  any  value  to 
themselves  or  to  others.  Hence  there  is  need  of 
some  recognized  legitimate  and  yet  independent 
method  of  maintaining  public  control  over  city 
officers. 

2.  Method  of  public  examiners. — Provision  is 
made  for  auditing  the  accounts  of  officials  who 
have  charge  of  public  funds;  and  much  depends 
on  the  fidelity,  honesty,  ability,  and  training  of 
such  public  examiners  and  auditors. 

3.  Method  of  voluntary  associations  of  citizens. 
— Outside  of  the  officers  themselves  there  is 
needed  an  alert  society  of  citizens  whose  constant 
business  it  shall  be:  (a)  to  provide  expert  ac- 
countants who  shall  make  themselves  familiar 
with  the  methods  of  keeping  municipal  records 
and  accounts;  (b)  who  will  make  suggestions  to 
the  officers  of  the  city  in  respect  to  correction  of 
abuses  and  improvements  in  administration;  and 


Duties  of  Urban  Life  215 

(c)  who  will,  when  amendment  is  refused  or 
persistently  neglected,  expose  the  defects,  neglect, 
or  fraud  to  the  electorate  through  the  press,  after 
giving  the  delinquent  officers  a  fair  opportunity 
to  mend  their  ways.  In  case  of  palpably  criminal 
conduct  the  prosecuting  authorities  are  to  be 
informed.  The  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research, 
of  New  York,  already  mentioned,  is  the  best  type 
of  such  a  society. 

But  municipal  administration  requires  for 
its  best  service  that  the  electorate  itself  should  be 
intelligent  and  alert  in  respect  to  the  policy  which 
the  government  should  pursue  and  the  results 
which  are  expected.  No  amount  of  examination 
of  accounts  will  talce  the  place  of  an  enlightened 
public  demand  for  broadening  the  activities  of 
the  administration.  The  people  cannot  attend  to 
details,  but  they  can  understand  whether  their 
government  is  increasing  their  well-being  and 
diminishing  their  loss  and  suffering.  For  ex- 
ample, the  people  of  Chicago  were  capable  of 
judging  of  the  necessity  for  a  drainage  canal, 
and  they  could  appreciate  the  fact  that  after  its 
completion  typhoid  fever  almost  disappeared. 
Efficiency  and  economy  in  building  public  works, 
in  conducting  hospitals  and  schools,  can  be  tested 
by  records  and  reports. 


2i6  Social  Duties 

4.  Civil-service  reform;  the  merit  system. — 
It  is  evident  to  any  competent  person  who  will 
study  the  facts  that  the  only  qualifications  for  a 
position  in  public  service  are  mental,  physical,  and 
moral  fitness  for  it,  and  faithful  and  efficient 
labor  in  it.  It  is  just  as  evident  that  any  man  who 
has  taken  time  to  learn  his  professional  duties 
should  be  secure  in  his  position,  as  he  is  in  private 
business,  so  long  as  he  renders  satisfactory 
service;  that  he  should  not  be  discharged  arbitra- 
rily nor  because  of  his  political  or  ecclesiastical 
creed. 

Up  to  this  time  our  cities  have  been  saddled 
with  the  "spoils  system,"  thus  designated  because 
it  was  believed  by  politicians  that  when  a  party 
was  victorious  the  city  offices  belonged  as  spoils 
of  war  to  the  victors.  Under  this  iniquitous 
system  men  are  appointed  to  positions  by  the 
favor  of  "bosses,"  not  by  their  own  personal 
merit  and  fitness.  Mr.  Cleveland  taught  a  great 
truth  in  his  happy  phrase  "a  public  office  is  a 
public  trust."  The  very  word  "office"  implies  a 
social  duty. 

The  right  test  for  appointing  or  retaining  a 
city  official  is  his  usefulness  to  the  public,  not  to 
a  ring  of  partisan  managers.  During  the  past 
quarter  of  a  century  tlie  federal  and  local  govern- 


Duties  of  Urban  Life  217 

meiits,  with  steady  opposition,  secret  and  open, 
from  many  politicians,  have  been  urged  by  en- 
Hghtened  patriots  to  place  all  administrative 
offices  under  the  "merit  system  ;"that  is  to  make 
appointments  to  such  places  from  candidates  who 
have  proved  that  they  are  capable  of  performing 
the  duties  of  the  offices.  In  this  reform  move- 
ment reliance  has  been  placed  largely  on  "civil- 
service  examinations,"  the  candidates  being  tested 
by  the  requirement  to  answer  certain  questions 
relating  to  matters  which  the  candidate  ought  to 
know.  Other  tests  must  be  added  to  this  aca- 
demic examination,  in  order  to  prove  the  skill  and 
training  of  the  candidate  as  well  as  his  knowledge 
of  facts  and  ability  to  express  his  ideas  in  written 
form.  Thus  a  mechanic  should  prove  by  testi- 
mony that  he  has  served  an  apprenticeship, 
and  acquired  skill;  an  engineer  or  physician  or 
nurse  should  show  a  diploma  or  certificate  of 
successful  service  in  a  similar  position  to  the  one 
for  which  the  person  is  candidate. 

In  cities  like  those  of  England,  where  the  spoils 
system  is  not  very  strongly  intrenched,  the  city 
boards  have  considerable  freedom  and  discretion 
in  appointing  and  discharging ;  but  a  good  officer 
need  not  fear  discharge  on  account  of  his  political 
views. 


2i8  Social  Duties 

V.  INFLUENCE    OF    POLITICAL    PARTIES    IN    CITY 

GOVERNMENT 

The  political  parties  are  organized  and  main- 
tained to  make  effective  certain  principles  and 
policies  of  national  government,  as  tariff  methods, 
interstate  commerce  regulations,  foreign  rela- 
tions, the  army  and  navy.  The  issues  are  very 
different  from  those  affecting  local  administra- 
tion, such  as  sewers,  parks,  schools,  public  utilities, 
and  similar  matters.  Therefore  it  would  seem 
that  men  may  properly  vote  for  president  and 
members  of  Congress  on  the  party  ticket  and  for 
candidates  of  different  parties  or  no  party  for 
members  of  the  city  council  and  mayors  .  Prac- 
tically it  is  very  difficult  to  make  this  separation. 
But  at  least  the  candidates  for  municipal  offices 
may  be  required  by  associations  of  voters  to 
pledge  themselves  to  definite  lines  of  policy 
touching  local  interests,  no  matter  what  their  at- 
titude may  be  to  the  issues  of  national  parties. 

VI.  THE    INFLUENCE    OF    CITY    GOVERNMENT    ON 

MORALITY  AND  CHARACTER 

The  ultimate  purpose  of  the  Christian  church 
is  to  promote  righteousness,  the  will  of  a  good 
and  holy  God  in  the  nature  and  life  of  men.  This 
purpose  it  pursues  at  immense  expenditure  of 
money,  time,  toil,  and  sacrifice.     Although  there 


Duties  of  Urban  Life  219 

is  much  that  can  be  said,  with  only  too  great  a 
degree  of  truth,  of  the  indifference,  mistakes,  and 
waste  of  Christian  effort,  no  fair-minded  and 
intelHgent  man  can  deny  that  the  church  has 
steadily,  and  with  increasing  effect,  labored 
toward  this  high  end. 

But  the  redeeming  influence  of  the  church  and 
its  ministry  is  thwarted  at  every  step  by  mal- 
administration and  corruption  in  city  politics  and 
government.  Often  the  men  elected  or  appointed 
to  repress  vice  and  crime  form  alliances  with 
depraved  and  unscrupulous  offenders  and  line 
their  own  pockets  with  the  spoils  of  shameful 
compromises. 

The  example  of  dishonest  council  members 
growing  rich  by  bargains  with  corrupt  corpora- 
tions or  by  partnerships  with  saloons,  brothels, 
and  gambling  dens,  instigates  youth  to  follow 
these  illustrious  models.  "Success"  too  often 
means  the  winning  of  wealth  without  regard  to 
the  means  of  acquisition,  and  it  fires  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  morally  immature  and  debases  them. 
While  faithful  deaconesses,  missionaries,  Salva- 
tionists, and  pastors  toil  through  the  years  to 
rescue  a  few  of  the  perishing,  an  inefficient  or 
dishonest  administration  will  actually  make  gain 
out  of  methods  which  deprave  and  ruin  multitudes 
of  innocent  children  and  ignorant  youth.     In  the 


220  Social  Duties 

very  nature  of  the  case  the  church  is  at  unceasing 
war  with  a  wicked  municipal  government,  and  to 
compromise  would  mean  a  base  surrender,  an 
inner  spiritual  defeat. 

It  is  tragic  to  think  of  the  pulpit  and  Sunday 
school  saving  a  few  precious  souls  out  of  a  tene- 
ment-house district  while  an  inefficient  and  un- 
scrupulous city  government  permits  depraved 
women  and  men  to  turn  whole  blocks  of  resi- 
dences of  poor  families  into  haunts  of  low  vice 
and  schools  of  depravity. 

VII.       THE  DUTY  OF  CHRISTIAN  CITIZENS  IN  RELA- 
TION TO  MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT 

Let  us  carefully  discriminate,  (a)  We  are  not 
inquiring  at  this  point  what  is  the  duty  of  the 
church  as  an  association.  It  may  well  be  that  the 
church  has  no  call  to  enter  into  the  strife  of  par- 
tisans, to  pronounce  upon  the  qualifications  of 
candidates  for  office,  to  criticize  authoritatively 
the  conduct  of  officials,  to  pass  resolutions  favor- 
ing particular  policies  or  measures.  The  church 
has  no  fitness,  no  organs  for  such  tasks.  It  is 
almost  certain  to  blunder  if  it  attempts  to  go  into 
this  field,  (b)  Nor  do  we  here  assert  that  min- 
isters should  hold  office  or  conduct  movements  for 
amelioration  and  reform  which  demand  legal 
knowledge,  skill  in  debate,  and  information  about 


Ditties  of  Urban  Life  221 

officials  and  their  duties.  We  may  be  inclined  to 
think  them  too  emotional  and  inexperienced  for 
such  work.  We  may  think  of  the  peril  to  their 
reputation  and  usefulness  in  being  mixed  up  in 
the  conflicts  of  litigation.  We  may  have  good 
reason  to  anticipate  neglect  of  their  higher  duties. 
The  minister  is,  we  deny  not,  a  citizen  and  a  man 
before  he  is  a  parson,  and  he  cannot  be  refused  the 
rights  of  a  citizen.  There  are,  perhaps,  situations 
so  desperate,  when  no  other  can  be  found  brave 
enough,  when  a  pastor  may  risk  the  danger  and 
sacrifice  much  for  a  great  and  imperiled  cause. 
But,  generally,  better  instruments  can  be  found 
for  such  reform  movements,  (c)  The  Church 
and  its  ministry  can  and  ought  to  help  create  in 
the  minds  of  citizens  such  a  definite  sense  of 
obligation  as  will  secure  and  support  not  only 
leaders  of  ameliorative  effort  but  a  substantial 
and  intelligent  support  everywhere  by  men  and 
women.  Here  we  return  to  the  principle  advo- 
cated throughout  this  volume,  that  the  church  and 
ministry  must  provide  for  education  of  the  moral 
sense  in  the  actual  and  concrete  problems  of  life. 
The  church  is  not  the  only  school  of  political  and 
administrative  morality,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most 
important  because  it  alone  can  effectively  set  in 
motion  the  forces  of  religion  and  it  is  independ- 
ent of   party   and    faction.      Any  minister   who 


222  Social  Duties 

attempts  to  lead  a  fight  with  vice  without  first 
securing  the  co-operation  of  brave  and  wise  busi- 
ness men  will  spend  his  strength  in  vain.  General 
Grant  did  not  win  his  great  battles  by  flourishing 
his  sword  and  shouting  on  the  firing-line,  but  by- 
animating  the  whole  army  with  his  spirit  and 
working  out  the  idea  of  the  campaign.  It  is 
better  for  a  minister  to  educate  and  inspire  a 
thousand  men  and  women  than  to  try  to  do  the 
work  of  a  thousand  men  and  women. 

It  should  not  be  difficult  for  the  church  to  set 
apart,  consecrate,  dedicate  certain  of  its  members 
to  the  Ministry  of  Political  Action — men  of 
sound  sense,  energy,  public  spirit,  business  and 
legal  training,  acquaintance  with  men  and  affairs. 
The  church  need  not  be  responsible  for  all  their 
opinions  and  measures;  indeed,  men  of  different 
parties  may  be  chosen,  if  they  are  at  once  consci- 
entious and  careful  students. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

F.  J.  Goodnow,  City  Government  in  the  United  States. 
D.  B.  Eaton,  The  Government  of  Municipalities. 
J.   A.   Fairlie,   Municipal  Administration. 
W.  H.  Allen,  Efficient  Democracy. 
J.  Strong,  The  Challenge  of  the  City. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 

I.  Members  of  the  class  may  make  a  large  wall  chart 
of  the  municipal  organization  of  their  town  or  city,  the 


Duties  of  Urban  Life  223 

titles,  duties,  and  salaries  of  all  officers ;  to  whom  each 
one  is  responsible ;  how  elected  or  appointed,  and  for 
what  terms;  what  reports  or  records  they  are  legally  re- 
quired to  make ;  what  are  the  means  of  knowing  their 
efficiency  as  measured  by  results. 

2.  Try  to  find  out  in  regard  to  several  departments 
just  what  they  are  legally  required  to  do  and  how 
far  they  have  done  it,  what  it  cost  the  people,  and  in  what 
respects  they  failed.  Did  the  board  of  health  diminish 
sickness  and  death?  Did  the  public  hospital  cure  patients, 
as  many  as  it  might,  at  reasonable  cost?  Did  the  school 
board  provide  instruction  for  all  children  and  secure  their 
attendance? 

3.  Let  some  members  of  the  ciass,  if  they  know 
enough  and  are  brave  enough,  go  to  the  bottom  of  these 
questions :  "Who  appraises  the  property  of  the  gas 
company,  the  street  car  company,  the  electric  companies, 
the  railroads,  the  banks  and  bankers,  the  big  mercantile 
houses,  for  taxation?  What  assessors,  taxing  boards, 
auditors,  have  such  power?  Are  they  growing  rich  out 
of  these  offices?  Who  helps  to  get  them  into  office? 
Who  bribes  them  and  how?  Who  pays  the  cost  of  gov- 
ernment which  great  corporations  avoid?  What  are  the 
relations  of  the  "bosses"  in  politics  to  the  public-service 
corporations?  Who  are  the  local  "bosses"  in  each  party, 
and  by  what  means  did  they  acquire  power? 

REFERENCES   TO  LITERATURE 
F.  C.  Howe,  The  City,  pp.  4  flf. 
E.  A.  Ross,  Sins  of  Society. 
J.  L.  Steffens,  Shame  of  the  City. 


CHAPTER  XII 
CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTION 

In  a  Christian  community  familiar  with  the 
Bible  there  is  no  need  to  show  that  kindness  to 
the  weak,  the  unfortunate,  and  the  wicked  is  a 
duty.  The  disposition  to  help  may  well  be  taken 
for  granted.  But  the  wisest  methods  of  helpful- 
ness do  not  come  to  us  from  intuition  and  amiable 
impulse;  we  must  learn  them  from  experience, 
by  hard  study,  and  by  diligent  labor.  Many 
gentle  and  generous  persons  ruin  the  poor  and 
increase  crime  by  ignorant  methods. 

I.       SOCIAL  DUTIES  IN   RELATION   TO  THE  VICIOUS 
AND   CRIMINAL 

First  of  all  it  is  the  duty  of  Christian  people  to 
learn  what  they  can  of  the  important  facts  of 
dependence,  vice,  and  crime.  Some  of  these  facts 
can  be  learned  from  public  records.  When  offi- 
cials charged  with  administering  relief  give  aid 
to  needy  families  in  their  homes  or  to  helpless 
persons  in  hospitals,  asylums,  and  almshouses,  a 
record  is  usually  kept  of  the  persons  and  what 
has  been  done  for  them,  and  a  report  is  made  to 
city,  state,  or  national  authorities. 

Charity,  justice  and  reason  require  that  we 
should  carefully  distinguish  the  various  groups  of 

234 


Charities  and  Correction  225 

those  who  call  for  charitable  or  reformatory 
service.  This  classification  is  based  on  the  char- 
acteristics and  nature  of  the  wards  of  society, 
on  the  causes  which  produced  the  unnatural  con- 
dition, and  on  the  measures  required  to  relieve 
their  distress  and  control  their  conduct. 

I,  Abnormals. — It  is  possible  to  distinguish  a 
considerable  number  of  persons  who  have  either 
been  born  with  imperfect  nervous  structure  or 
through  shock,  disease,  or  waste  have  become  so 
diseased  that  they  cannot  act  normally  and  associ- 
ate safely  with  ordinary  people.  Thus  we  have 
idiots  and  imbeciles  of  all  grades,  epileptics,  and 
the  insane  of  many  types. 

Idiots  and  imbeciles,  for  the  most  part,  are 
offspring  of  parents  whose  nervous  system  is  im- 
perfectly developed.  We  have  here  a  case  of 
direct  inheritance  too  plain  to  mistake.  In  the 
plant,  in  the  animal,  and  in  human  beings,  like 
produces  like.  The  proof  of  this  law  can  be  made 
plain  to  children,  best  of  all  by  nature-study,  by 
watching  the  growth  and  division  of  cells  with  a 
microscope  under  direction  of  a  scientific  teacher, 
by  observation  in  poultry  yards,  in  flocks  and 
herds,  in  gardens  and  cages,  in  zoological  muse- 
ums, and  in  human  families.  Not  only  bones, 
muscles,  nerves,  hair,  height,  color  of  skin  and 
eyes,  but  also  abnormal  conditions  are  transmitted 


226  Social  Duties 

from  parents  to  children,  and  even  traits  of 
character  and  disposition.  A  smaller  number  of 
the  feeble-minded  have  not  inherited  their  defects, 
but  these  are  due  to  accidents  and  disease.  The 
use  of  alcohol  and  narcotics  in  excess,  on  the  part 
of  parents,  sometimes  is  shown  in  the  offspring. 

2.  Defectives. — This  word  is  here  used  in  a 
specific  sense  to  describe  persons  more  or  less  de- 
pendent on  social  aid  and  care  on  account  of  some 
physical  handicap  not  seriously  affecting  the  brain 
and  central  nerv^ous  system,  as  the  cripples,  the 
blind,  and  the  deaf.  Cripples  are  sometimes  bom 
without  hands  or  feet,  though  otherwise  natural 
and  healthy;  more  frequently  their  condition  is 
due  to  accident  or  disease.  A  child  may  be 
burned,  scalded,  thrown  upon  the  floor,  have  its 
hand  or  leg  crushed  or  cut;  or  some  disease  like 
tuberculosis  may  attack  the  spine  or  hip  and  make 
the  person  lame  and  deformed.  These  are  not 
seriously  "abnormal,"  although  they  lack  some 
limbs,  organ,  or  members,  and  thus  are  in  a  de- 
gree "defective." 

3.  Under  the  name  impoverished  we  may  con- 
veniently group  a  large  number  of  persons  who 
need  charitable  relief  or  support  chiefly  on  account 
of  some  social  misfortune:  as  orphans,  abandoned 
and  neglected  children,  families  where  sickness  or 
misfortune    have    taken    away    normal    support, 


Charities  and  Correction  227 

homeless  men  out  of  employment,  invalids,  friend- 
less aged  men  and  women. 

The  causes  of  deep  poverty  are  numerous  and 
complicated,  many  of  them  reading  back  to  gen- 
erations long  since  dead.  Thus  we  may  discover 
infants  abandoned  by  mothers,  left  upon  the  door- 
step of  house  or  asylum  for  strangers  to  care  for ; 
or  born  in  a  hospital  and  made  motherless  by 
death.  Orphans  become  dependent  in  consequence 
of  the  death  of  parents.  In  such  cases  we  impute 
no  fault  to  the  victim  of  calamity,  though  disease 
may  sometimes  be  traced  to  misconduct  in  an- 
cestors. From  ancient  times  the  widow  and  the 
fatherless  have  been  cast  by  religion  and  morals 
on  the  mercy  of  the  faithful ;  for  it  is  easily  seen 
that  when  war,  accident,  pestilence,  or  sickness 
has  removed  the  husband  and  father,  the  mother 
has  to  bear  an  extraordinary  burden  at  once  to 
care  for  and  earn  a  support  for  the  children.  Yet 
when  we  go  back  far  enough  we  may  occasionally 
discover  that  the  father  brought  premature  death 
on  himself  by  some  form  of  misconduct.  The 
object  of  seeking  causes,  however,  is  not  to  place 
blame  so  much  as  to  be  able  to  cut  off  the  supply 
of  evil  in  future. 

Disease  is  one  of  the  most  prolific  causes  of 
impoverishment  of  individuals  and  families,  for 
sickness  not  only  diminishes  or  destroys  earning 


228  Social  Duties 

power  but  frequently  undermines  even  the  will- 
ingness to  put  forth  effort.  Any  relief  agent  can 
cite  numerous  instances  where  a  family  has  been 
reduced  to  beggary  by  the  prolonged  sickness  of  a 
once  industrious  father.  Diseases  themselves  are 
effects  of  causes  as  numerous  as  can  be  imagined, 
as  drunkenness,  gluttony,  low  vice,  indolence,  use 
of  narcotics  and  other  harmful  indulgences;  or  to 
malaria,  to  typhoid  germs  in  water,  milk,  or  vege- 
tables, to  venereal  diseases,  to  tuberculosis,  to 
pneumonia.  Tuberculosis  is  one  of  the  principal 
enfeebling  and  impoverishing  diseases.  It  is  not 
true  nor  fair  to  say  that  the  individual  is  to  blame 
for  his  sickness  without  knowing  all  his  history; 
for  much  illness  is  due  to  social  conditions  over 
which  the  individual  has  no  control.  Think  of 
the  risks  miners  must  take  in  order  that  the  rest 
of  us  can  have  the  cheerful  light  and  warmth  of 
coal ;  every  hour  they  toil  in  darkness,  in  damp 
and  poisonous  atmosphere,  exposed  to  the  falling 
rocks  and  the  explosion  of  powder,  dynamite, 
and  gas.  Think  of  the  perils  to  life  and  limb  of 
the  railway  engineers,  firemen,  and  switchmen, 
the  price  they  must  pay  that  we  may  enjoy  travel 
and  the  transportation  of  commodities  from 
distant  places  of  production.  Think  of  the  illness 
due  to  crowded  tenements,  undrained  cellars,  hot 
workshops    and    a    thousand    conditions    which 


Charities  and  Correction  229 

the  worker  cannot  change.  All  of  this  causes 
poverty. 

Men  quite  willing  to  work  for  their  living  are 
often  turned  into  the  street  by  the  hundred  thou- 
sand by  employers.  It  is  not  true  to  say  that  any 
honest  and  steady  man  can  secure  wages  any  time 
he  is  willing  to  labor.  Every  year  multitudes  are 
thrown  out  of  occupation  unwillingly  and  in  some 
years  some  of  the  most  important  factories,  mills, 
and  mines  are  closed  for  a  long  period.  It  is 
useless  for  those  thrown  out  to  seek  employment 
in  another  branch  of  industry,  even  if  they  had 
the  skill  required,  because  in  periods  of  depression 
all  industries  may  be  closed  together.  This  study 
of  causes  ought  to  be  extended  in  many  directions 
so  that  we  can  realize  how  complicated  are  the 
conditions  of  life  in  modern  cities,  learn  the  lesson 
of  charity,  and  also  consider  what  large  social 
remedies  are  demanded. 

4.  Under  the  title  vicious  and  delinquent  may 
be  grouped  those  who  manifest  an  anti-social  dis- 
position and  who  must  be  held  in  some  kind  of 
restraint  in  the  interest  of  social  order  and 
security.  There  are  many  grades  and  kinds  of 
delinquents,  from  the  mischievous  lad  who  plays 
truant  and  steals  green  apples  to  the  hardened 
murderer.  With  youthful  offenders  we  cannot 
use  the  epithet   "criminal"   with  any  propriety. 


230  Social  Duties 

Remove  the  abnormal  imbecile  to  suitable  segre- 
gated colonies  and  the  young  persons  left  may 
safely  be  treated  by  educational  methods.  The 
starting-point  of  lawless  conduct  may  be  in  some 
physical  infirmity  which  unfits  a  child  for  school 
and  drives  him  as  a  truant  in  sullen  discontent  or 
open  rebellion  to  woods  and  stream  or  vicious 
company.  Recently  the  appointment  of  trained 
medical  visitors  and  nurses  as  examiners  of 
schools  has  revealed  the  fact  that  truancy  is  fre- 
quently the  result  of  physical  inability  to  see  or 
hear  clearly  or  to  do  the  required  task ;  and  that 
when  surgical  and  medical  aid  has  been  given,  the 
child  succeeds  and  is  happy  in  school.  How  often 
harsh  judgments,  due  to  the  ignorance  of  parents 
and  teachers,  have  turned  children  into  tramps, 
vagabonds,  and  delinquents. 

When  we  inquire  carefully  into  the  physical 
conditions  under  which  multitudes  of  children  are 
brought  up  in  cities  the  chief  wonder  is  that  so 
few  are  ruined,  that  so  many  live  honest  and  use- 
ful lives.  It  is  heartbreaking  to  look  into  the 
crowded  quarters  in  New  York,  Chicago,  and 
other  cities  and  know  that  decency  and  modesty 
must  have  deep  roots  indeed  to  survive  where 
men,  women,  children,  families,  boarders,  stran- 
gers, live  like  beasts  in  cages. 

As  for  the  rest  the  temptations  to  vice  and 


Charities  and  Correction  231 

crime  are  on  every  hand.  The  desire  for  food 
and  clothes  is  a  temptation  to  theft,  burglary, 
fraud,  deception,  unless  the  necessities  of  life  can 
be  earned  by  skill  or  won  by  industry.  Even 
among  respectable  people  crime  often  occurs,  not 
to  get  food  and  comforts,  but  to  heap  up  wealth 
and  make  a  parade  of  power  and  riches.  A  cer- 
tain part  of  legal  talent  is  consecrated  to  the 
task  of  showing  strong  men  how  to  steal  without 
punishment. 

II.       SOCIAL   DUTIES   IN    RELATION    TO   THE 
DEPRESSED  AND  DEPRAVED 

I.  General  maxims. — Of  individual  duty  we 
cannot  here  say  much  directly ;  for  what  any  per- 
son ought  to  do  will  be  determined  by  his  wealth, 
faculties,  abilities,  experience,  training,  and  oppor- 
tunity. We  have  here  to  do  chiefly  with  social 
duties,  that  is,  with  the  methods  which  com- 
munities ought  to  use  in  dealing  with  the  pauper, 
the  distressed,  the  vicious,  the  delinquent.  Within 
a  brief  chapter  no  systematic  and  complete  presen- 
tation is  possible;  we  suggest  a  few  vital  prin- 
ciples and  give  references  to  extended  treatises 
for  those  who  can  take  time  to  study  the  problems 
more  thoroughly. 

a)  It  may  be  accepted  as  self-evident,  upon 
clear  statement,  that  the  social  methods  of  dealing 
with  delinquent,  depraved,  and  distressed  members 


232  Social  Duties 

of  the  community  should  aim  at  the  permanent 
welfare  of  the  object  of  charity  and  correction, 
not  merely  at  the  temporary  alleviation  of  pain 
and  misery.  This  is  a  maxim  of  prudence  and 
wisdom  which  we  employ  in  respect  to  ourselves 
and  our  children,  and  it  is  applicable  to  all.  This 
means  that  physical  needs,  as  hunger  and  cold, 
should  be  met,  so  far  as  possible,  in  a  way  to 
help  build  up  character,  habits  of  industry,  a  sense 
of  independence  and  social  responsibility. 

b)  It  must  be  accepted  as  a  result  of  a  rational 
view  of  life  that  the  methods  of  charity  and  cor- 
rection must  tend  to  improve  and  not  degrade 
the  race.  The  individual  is  only  one  factor  in 
society;  the  common  good  is  paramount. 

c)  It  follows  that  momentary  impulses  must 
be  judged  and  controlled  by  science,  and  not  fol- 
lowed blindly.  The  impulse  to  give  instantaneous 
relief  may  spring  from  a  good  motive,  generous 
sympathy;  but  it  requires  rational  control  in 
order  that  the  gift  or  service  may  really  tend  to 
the  permanent  well-being  of  the  recipient  and  to 
the  general  well-being  of  the  human  race. 

d)  The  duty  of  organization  and  rational  co- 
operation is  made  clear  by  all  that  precedes.  No 
man,  no  church,  no  benevolent  association  has  a 
right  to  give  relief  as  if  no  other  philanthropy 
were  in  existence.  Join  a  genuine  fervor  of  good- 


Charities  and  Correction  233 

ness  to  ignorance  and  obstinacy  and  you  have 
a  combination  perilous  to  society.  The  pohcy  of 
a  benefactor  must  take  into  consideration  the  total 
situation  or  it  is  sure  to  become  anti-social,  that  is, 
immoral. 

e)  The  social  duty  of  securing  full  in  forma- 
tion can  be  established  by  widest  induction.  It  is 
a  perfectly  fair  statement  that  a  charity  worker 
should  no  more  give  relief  without  inquiry  than  a 
physician  should  administer  a  powerful  remedy 
without  a  diagnosis. 

/)  Another  maxim  of  very  wide  validity  is 
that  our  charity  and  our  correction  ought  to  be 
thorough;  ought  to  move  to  the  end ;  that  relief, 
for  example,  should  be  adequate  and  enough  to 
restore  the  beneficiary  to  self-support  if  possible; 
that  the  treatment  of  a  criminal  should  never 
cease  so  long  as  he  is  unfit  for  freedom  and  re- 
mains an  enemy  of  society. 

2.  Particular  regulative  principles  appliable  to 
classes  of  the  depressed  or  depraved.  Dependent 
children. — The  following  summary  statements  of 
principles  which  should  control  social  methods 
with  dependent  children  may  be  discussed  and 
criticized  in  the  light  of  further  reading  and  ex- 
perience. 

The  best  place  for  a  homeless  child,  if  normal 
in  body  and  mind,  is  a  good  home  in  a  family. 


234  Social  Duties 

Institutions  like  receiving  homes  and  orphanages 
are  temporary  makeshifts.  Children  should  not 
be  kept  in  large  establishments ;  they  need  the  close 
and  intimate  and  brooding  care  of  real  fathers 
and  mothers.  If  a  widow  or  forsaken  wife  is  fit 
to  care  for  her  children  they  should  not  be  wrested 
from  her,  but  she  should  be  given  means  to  keep 
them  together  and  perform  her  mother's  duty  to 
them.  It  is  more  economical  to  pay  her  for  rear- 
ing her  own  children  than  to  hire  an  institution 
to  do  it  poorly  and  compel  her  to  neglect  her 
household  to  earn  a  living  outside  the  house.  A 
mother  can  earn  more  money  for  society  in  edu- 
cating her  own  children  than  in  any  other  pursuit. 

Abnormal  children  and  adults — idiots,  epi- 
leptics, and  insane — cannot  be  treated  as  if  they 
were  normal.  They  cannot,  if  the  nervous  sys- 
tem is  deeply  and  permanently  disturbed  by  he- 
reditary defect  or  by  disease,  be  trusted  with  free- 
dom and  made  responsible  for  self-support  in 
competition  with  normal  persons ;  nor  are  they  fit 
to  become  parents,  because  their  infirmities  are 
transmitted  to  their  offspring  and  their  misery  is 
perpetuated. 

Into  details  of  organization  and  administration 
we  cannot  go.  The  farm  colony  is  the  best  type 
of  institution  for  all  abnormals ;  but  separate 
colonies,    administered    on    separate    plans,    are 


Charities  and  Correction  235 

required  for  the  feeble-minded,  the  epileptics,  and 
the  insane.  Persons  of  these  three  groups  should 
not  be  mingled.  This  is  also  true  of  diseased  and 
degenerate  vagabonds  and  confirmed  inebriates. 
They  must  have  special  colonies  fitted  up  for  the 
suitable  hygienic,  industrial,  and  moral  training 
and  custody  required  for  their  own  welfare  and 
the  protection  of  society.  These  colonies  should 
be  under  state  control  and  should  not  be  admin- 
istered by  county  or  city  officials. 

3.  Charity  organisation  societies. — In  some 
form  every  city,  town,  and  county  should  have  a 
central  office  of  charity  for  the  following  pur- 
poses :  ( I )  to  secure  and  keep  on  record  all 
necessary  information  relating  to  needy  persons 
and  families  in  its  district;  (2)  to  provide  capable 
visitors  to  study  and  relieve  those  who  require 
any  kind  of  assistance;  (3)  to  bring  all  benevolent 
individuals,  churches,  and  associations  into  co- 
operation, so  that  all  their  resources  may  be  avail- 
able and  so  that  adequate  help  can  be  found  for 
any  distressed  person ;  (4)  to  keep  a  register  of  all 
charitable  institutions  and  agencies,  with  full  and 
reliable  information,  and  to  publish  a  directory 
of  charities,  so  that  any  citizen  may  learn  where 
he  can  give  his  contributions  of  money  or  service 
to  the  best  advantage;  (5)  incidentally,  to  dis- 
cover and  expose  fraud  and  imposture,  and  so 


236  Social  Duties 

save  the  benevolent  fund  of  the  community  for 
use  where  it  can  accompHsh  its  purpose  without 
waste  and  without  disappointment  to  those  who 
make  sacrifices;  (6)  to  set  in  motion  measures 
for  preventing  misfortune,  sickness,  and  distress, 
and  warn  the  pubhc  against  crazy  schemes  of 
selfish  or  incompetent  persons.  All  the  measures 
included  in  a  social  policy  and  discussed  in  other 
chapters  of  this  volume  can  be  promoted  by  such 
a  charity  organization.  In  a  village  or  rural 
county  a  general  improvement  society  may  in- 
clude a  special  bureau  or  standing  committee 
charged  with  the  functions  of  a  charity  organiza- 
tion society  for  the  district. 

4.  State  supervision  and  control. — In  the  last 
analysis  the  people  of  a  commonwealth  must  bear 
the  consequences  not  only  of  pauperism,  vice,  and 
crime,  but  also  of  misdirected  private  philan- 
thropy. It  is  therefore  the  duty  of  the  common- 
wealth to  exercise  such  a  kind  and  degree  of 
supervision  and  control  of  all  charities  and  cor- 
rection as  will  protect  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
people  in  the  present  and  future. 

This  needs  no  argument  in  respect  to  the  insti- 
tutions established  by  each  state  itself,  as  hos- 
pitals and  asylums  for  the  insane,  the  feeble- 
minded, the  epileptics,  schools  for  the  blind  and 
the  deaf,  reformatories,  and  prisons.     For  these 


Charities  and  Correction  237 

general  institutions  two  forms  of  oversight  are 
necessary,  administration  and  supervision.  These 
are  entirely  different  functions  and  should  never 
be  performed  by  the  same  officials.  The  govern- 
ment never  asks  the  administrators  of  a  national 
bank  to  audit  its  own  accounts  and  make  decisions 
as  to  its  conduct,  but  sends  an  examiner  who 
works  independently  of  the  administration.  The 
state  must  have  one  board  of  control  for  all  its 
institutions,  or  one  for  each  institution,  or  a  board 
for  each  group  of  similar  institutions;  and  the 
board,  acting  through  expert  superintendents, 
should  govern  and  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
institution.  In  addition  to  these  boards  of  control 
and  administration,  each  state  should  have  a  board 
of  charities  and  correction,  composed  of  eminent 
citizens  who  work  without  pay,  to  visit,  examine, 
and  report  their  findings  and  recommendations 
to  the  people  through  the  governor.  The  argu- 
ment for  this  plan  is  too  extended  to  be  made  use 
of  here,  but  it  is  sustained  by  the  best  authorities 
in  this  country. 

In  addition  to  the  state  institutions  there  are 
those  of  counties  and  cities  which  exist  by  virtue 
of  state  laws.  In  the  best  system  of  supervision 
county  and  city  almshouses,  poorhouses,  jails,  and 
lockups  are  inspected,  supervised,  and  controlled 
by  officers  of  the  state.     They  are  sure  to  be  the 


238  Social  Duties 

scene  of  neglect  and  abuse  if  left  altogether  to 
local  officers. 

Of  late  more  attention  has  been  given  to  the 
desirability  of  bringing  private  charities  under 
the  inspection  and  control  of  the  state.  Experi- 
ence has  taught  civilized  nations  that  the  insane, 
the  feeble-minded,  the  wayward,  and  helpless 
children  cannot  be  handed  over  to  private  associa- 
tions, even  of  the  churches,  without  providing  for 
visitation  and  for  control  of  abuses.  Shocking 
scandals  have  arisen  in  the  absence  of  such  visita- 
tion and  of  power  to  remedy  evils.  If  a  charitable 
agency  is  doing  excellent  work  and  keeping  honest 
accounts  it  need  not  fear  the  state  visitor;  his 
approval  will  help  to  secure  funds  from  benevolent 
citizens,  because  he  is  independent  of  the  manage- 
ment. An  inefficient  or  dishonest  superintendent 
may  well  dread  such  inspections. 

TOPICS  FOR  LOCAL  INQUIRY  AND  METHODS 
OF  SERVICE 

1.  Appoint  committees  of  two  sensible  and  careful 
members  to  visit  the  county  (or  town)  poorhouse  or 
almshouse,  the  city  lockup,  the  county  jail,  the  various 
hospitals,  the  charity  organization  society,  dispensaries, 
city  missions,  lodging  houses,  state  institutions  for  the 
insane,  epileptic,  feeble-minded,  blind,  deaf,  crippled, 
reform    school,    reformatory,   prison. 

2.  Consider    whether    religious    services    may    not    well 


Charities  and  Correction  239 

be  held  in  some  of  these  places.     Confer  with  the  super- 
intendents in  responsible  charge. 

3.  Inquire  of  officers  of  charitable  and  relief  societies 
what  kind  of  help  is  needed,  in  money,  goods,  personal 
service,  and  try  to  provide  this  aid  as  far  as  possible. 

4.  If  the  committee  thinks  errors,  faults,  or  abuses  are 
discovered  do  not  rush  into  print  with  an  attack,  but 
bring  the  matter  to  conference  with  the  responsible 
officials.  Frequently  they  will  receive  thoughtful  and 
humane  suggestions  and  correct  the  wrong.  Only  in 
case  of  criminal  misconduct,  and  abuses  which  the  re- 
sponsible authorities  refuse  to  set  aside,  should  officials 
be  publicly  criticized ;  and  they  should  always  have  a  fair 
hearing  before  condemnation.  Amateur  visitors  are  likely 
to  be  in  error  themselves,  and  should  be  careful. 

5.  Invite  representatives  of  various  charities  and  insti- 
tutions to  speak  to  the  class  or  to  furnish  statements  of 
their  work  and  needs. 

6.  Help  charity  workers  and  officers  of  institutions  to 
make  known  to  the  public  their  efforts  and  their  needs. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

Articles  in   Bliss,  Encyclopedia  of  Social  Reforms. 

E.  T.  Devine,  Principles  of  Relief,  and  Practice  of 
Charity. 

C.  R.  Henderson,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the 
Dependent,  Defective,  and  Delinquent  Classes  (list  of 
books  in  appendix). 

A.  G.  Warner,  American  Cliarities   (new  ed.,  1908). 

M.  E.  Richmond,  Friendly  Visiting,  and  The  Good 
Neighbor. 

F.  H.  Wines,  Punishment  and  Reformation. 


240  Social  Duties 

Proceedings  of  National  Conference  of  Charities  and 
Correction,  and  of  the  American   Prison  Association. 

Reports  of  boards  of  state  charities  in  Massachusetts, 
New  York,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
Ohio,  New  Jersey,  etc. 

C.  R.   Henderson,  Modern  Methods  of  Charity. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

RIGHTS  AND  RESPONSIBILITIES  OF  THE  GREAT 
CORPORATIONS 

A  new  version  of  the  story  of  the  Good  Samari- 
tan is  ready  for  pubHcation.  In  the  beautiful 
old  story,  spoken  at  a  time  when  government  was 
above  the  people,  the  charitable  man  who  found 
the  stranger  dying  in  his  blood,  took  care  of  him 
and  paid  for  his  healing.  In  the  modern  version 
the  good  Samaritan  not  only  takes  the  robbed  and 
wounded  man  to  a  hospital,  but  immediately  goes 
after  the  robbers  and  brings  them  to  justice;  and 
for  this  he  must  have  the  help  of  other  useful 
citizens  and  of  government  itself;  hence  now-a- 
days  the  good  man  goes  into  politics. 

What  we  now  call  "democracy"  and  "soli- 
darity" are  just  the  ancient  Christian  virtues  of 
kindness,  brotherhood,  and  justice  adopted  into 
national  morality  and  made  into  laws,  courts,  and 
administration.  Christianity  has  not  disappeared  ; 
it  has  become  incarnate  in  wider  and  powerful 
political  and  economic  organizations  and  institu- 
tions. Hence  a  Christian  man,  to  find  his  duty, 
must  not  only  study  his  Bible  but  also  his  econom- 
ics, politics,  and  sociology;  and  in  the  world's 
actual  life  he  will  discover  his  religion  at  work, 
241 


242  Social  Duties 

demonstrating  its  truth  and  goodness  by  deeds. 
If  religion  is  not  dominant  in  business  and  law- 
it  is  powerless  in  the  petty  circles  of  individual 
relations.  Smoke  from  a  factory  chimney  pours 
into  the  open  windows  of  the  church  and  blackens 
the  very  sanctuary. 

I.       THE  NEW  FACT  OF  THE  PRESENT 

The  new  fact  of  modern  times  is  the  organiza- 
tion of  industry  on  a  vast  scale  and  in  impersonal 
corporations.  In  manufactures,  transportation, 
and  trade  economic  organization  has  assumed 
colossal  proportions,  especially  in  America  and  in 
recent  years.  There  have  been  distinctions  of 
rich  and  poor  in  the  past,  and  combinations  of 
capital  have  not  been  unknown  in  former  ages ; 
but  the  huge  aggregation  of  capital  under  the 
control  of  corporations  is  the  distinctive  mark  of 
our  economic  order. 

II.       CAUSES   OF   THIS   TENDENCY   TO    CONCENTRA- 
TION  OF  LARGE   CAPITAL  IN    FEW    HANDS 

I.  There  are  usually  extensive  economies  in 
cost  of  production  where  manufacture,  sale,  and 
transportation  are  carried  on  upon  a  large  scale. 
It  is  easy  to  illustrate  this  fact  from  making 
candles  by  the  dozen  to  manufacturing  them  by 
the  car  load ;  from  weaving  coarse  cloth  by  hand 
to  the  looms  where  a  girl  does  more  work  than 


Duties  of  Corporations  243 

many  men  could  formerly  turn  out;  from  cart 
to  freight  train ;  from  sailing  ship  to  ocean  trans- 
portation companies.  Everywhere  cost  per  unit 
diminishes,  product  per  worker  increases;  but 
only  on  condition  that  people  work  in  large  num- 
bers under  strict  discipline. 

2.  Since  the  cost  of  producing,  transporting, 
and  selling  goods  is  lower,  in  consequence  of  these 
economies,  the  price  at  which  they  can  be  sold 
to  the  consumer  is  less.  This  is  always  true  if 
there  is  competition,  and  if  the  advantage  to  the 
capitalist  cannot  be  retained  altogether  in  his  own 
hands.  When  women,  who  are  the  principal 
shoppers,  seek  bargains  they  soon  find  the  places 
where  prices  are  lowest,  and  there  they  buy. 
Generally  it  is  the  department  store  which  offers 
the  greatest  variety  of  wares  at  lowest  cost,  and 
there  the  shoppers  gather.  It  is  the  consumers 
who  build  up  the  great  corporations;  it  is  they 
who  starve  out  the  little  shops,  petty  manufactur- 
ers, and  merchants. 

3.  It  is  true  that  there  is  often  an  illegitimate 
force  at  work  to  produce  concentration  of  pro- 
ductive agencies  and  capital ;  as  when  the  capitalist 
secures  advantages  over  competitors  by  fraud, 
by  bribing  public  officials,  by  making  secret  terms 
with  railroads  and  other  transportation  com- 
panies, and  by  other  immoral  and  illegal  methods. 


244  Social  Duties 

It  has  not  always  been  easy  for  the  general  public 
to  discover  these  unjust  and  hurtful  methods  of 
securing  control  and  undue  advantage  over  com- 
petitors and  consumers,  for  such  measures  are 
naturally  carried  out  in  secret;  when  they  are 
discovered  there  is  indignant  denial ;  and  not 
seldom  the  charges  made  are  false,  resulting  from 
disappointed  greed  or  envy  or  ignorance. 

It  is  true  that  extraordinarily  large  fortunes 
generally  go  with  unusual  commercial  ability,  and 
to  this  extent  genius  is  a  cause  of  concentration 
of  wealth.  But  immense  fortunes  often  go  to 
men  who  may  be  financially  efficient,  yet  danger- 
ous citizens;  sometimes  wealth  results  from  a 
series  of  accidents ;  sometimes  it  is  inherited  by 
incompetents  and  held  together  by  trust  com- 
panies. There  is  not  much  difference  in  ability 
between  financiers  of  this  generation  and  those 
of  past  generations;  but  there  are  enormous  dif- 
ferences in  riches.  Therefore  great  wealth  can- 
not be  in  any  sort  of  ratio  to  the  ability  of 
possessors,  and  evidently  is  not  uniformly  the 
reward  of  virtue. 

III.       MODE    OF    APPROACH    TO    THIS    PERPLEXING 

PROBLEM    OF    RIGHTS    AND    RESPONSIBILITIES 

OF  MANAGERS  OF  GREAT  INDUSTRIES 

The  reader  is  earnestly  requested  carefully  to 
study  again  the  contents  of  our  first  chapter,  the 


Duties  of  Corporations  245 

analysis  of  the  ends  and  elements  of  social  wel- 
fare. What  is  right,  what  is  duty,  what  is  good, 
and  what  is  the  moral  obligation  of  the  com- 
munity in  relation  to  these  new  forces  of  concen- 
trated wealth  and  industrial  activity?  We  must 
remember  that  what  is  good  is  the  welfare  of  all 
men,  women,  and  children  in  the  nation,  not 
merely  the  welfare  of  a  class,  however  large;  that 
welfare  includes  physical,  material,  and  spiritual 
good;  and  that  order,  liberty,  and  opportunity 
are  the  necessary  social  conditions  for  the  com- 
mon realization  of  welfare  as  thus  described.  All 
these  facts  must  be  held  together  in  the  mind 
and  balanced  there.  This  is  not  easy;  it  is  diffi- 
cult and  some  think  impossible;  but  if  one  element 
of  welfare  is  left  out,  or  one  citizen,  however 
humble  and  vicious,  is  ignored,  action  of  the  com- 
munity is  by  so  much  immoral,  unjust,  unreason- 
able. 

The  more  weighty,  complex,  and  difficult  the 
problem  is,  the  more  necessary  is  it  to  suspend 
judgment  until  all  facts  are  in,  and  to  use  all 
possible  diligence  and  care  to  discover  the  facts 
just  as  they  are.  Reality  will  avenge  itself  on 
falsehood,  whether  intentional  or  not.  This  is 
true  of  a  scholar's  book,  of  a  preacher's  sermon, 
of  a  law  enacted  by  Congress,  or  a  decision  of  a 
supreme  court.    A  traditional,  conventional,  fash- 


246  Social  Duties 

ionable  lie  can  never  do  the  work  of  truth. 
Majorities  do  not  change  reaHty,  and  some  of  the 
worst  wrongs  have  been  perpetrated  by  the  voice 
of  the  people.  One  of  the  chief  moral  tasks  of 
our  age  is  to  teach  the  people  what  is  just  and 
right,  especially  in  vast  affairs. 

Let  us  take  some  illustrations  of  the  complexity 
of  considerations  of  right  and  wrong  in  relation 
to  industry  and  trade.  From  the  standpoint  of 
a  director  of  an  urban  electric-lighting  company 
the  test  of  success  might  be  the  profits  which  flow 
into  his  own  bank  account;  but  this  test  is  not 
final.  There  are  the  interests  of  stockholders  who 
have,  some  of  them  out  of  meager  means,  furn- 
ished the  capital  for  the  enterprise;  and  there  are 
the  interests  of  consumers  of  light;  and  beyond 
that  the  interests  of  the  employees,  the  security 
of  order,  life,  and  property  in  the  city,  the  danger 
of  corrupting  the  city  council,  and  a  hundred 
other  considerations.  It  is  precisely  because  some 
strong  men  have  regarded  only  their  own  personal 
interests  and  have  ignored  the  sufferings  and 
rights  of  others  that  we  witness  the  rise  of  so 
many  colossal  sins  and  iniquities. 

In  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel  America 
has  won  splendid  triumphs,  and  the  prices  of  steel 
wares  have  been  lowered  for  the  multitudes  of 
consumers.    Yet  both  manufacturers  and  the  pub- 


Duties  of  Corporations  247 

lie  have  enjoyed  these  enormous  advantages 
largely  at  cost  of  the  workmen  in  the  mills, 
thousands  of  whom  have  been  tortured,  maimed, 
killed,  and  their  widows  and  fatherless  children 
left  to  pauperism  and  vice,  because  safety  appli- 
ances were  neglected  in  the  hot  pursuit  of  cheap 
iron  and  large  dividends,  and  because  American 
employers  have  not  provided  accident  insurance 
for  their  employees,  as  is  done  in  all  other  Chris- 
tian lands.  The  fact  is  that  this  rich  and  pros- 
perous country  has  been  willing  to  enjoy  the 
results  of  toil  and  agony,  and  throw  the  chief 
cost  upon  poor  immigrant  workmen.^ 

This  article  will  not  solve  any  problem  nor  set 
any  question  at  rest;  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it 
will  lead  many  to  avoid  snap  judgments,  and  show 
students  of  social  morality  what  hard  and  pro- 
longed thinking  it  will  cost  to  form  an  opinion 
which  has  any  value. 

In  a  simple  rural  community,  such  as  were 
those  in  which  our  ancestors  lived,  it  was  not 
usually  very  difficult  to  see  the  right  way.     If  a 

*  See  article  by  W.  Hard,  in  Everybody's  Magazine,  Novem- 
ber, 1907;  and  September  and  October,  igo8 ;  Charities  and 
Commons,  February,  1901,  and  December,  1907,  and  January, 
February,  and  March,  1909  ;  various  articles  in  the  American 
Journal  of  Sociology,  1907-8,  by  C.  R.  Henderson,  on  "Indus- 
trial Insurance,"  these  articles  being  also  published  in  a 
volume  (The  University  of  Chicago  Press,  1909). 


248  Social  Duties 

man  stole  a  pig  or  a  load  of  grain  the  plain  fact 
could  be  proved  and  the  wrong  was  clear  to 
anyone.  But  who  can  be  quite  sure  that  a  great 
corporation  or  a  ring  of  politicians  is  stealing 
from  him  in  excessive  prices  for  goods,  in  tariffs, 
or  in  taxes?  Men  are  not  likely  to  call  attention 
to  themselves  with  a  megaphone  at  a  moment 
when  their  hands  are  deep  in  public  funds;  and 
even  if  they  are  discovered,  they  look  innocent 
and  shout  out  against  "agitators"  and  "dema- 
gogues" and  "muck-rakers."  Still  more  curiously 
such  plunderers  are  frequently  sincere  when  they 
complain  of  the  criticisms  of  the  public.  First 
they  hide  the  facts  and  then  berate  their  critics 
for  ignorance  of  business ! 

Thought  and  action  are  inevitable  and  neces- 
sary. There  is  a  crisis.  The  nature  of  the  moral 
crisis  may  be  stated  in  several  propositions :  Ex- 
perience shows  that  arbitrary  and  unquestioned 
power  in  the  hands  of  private  men  of  ability  is 
sure  to  be  abused,  if  there  is  money  to  be  made 
by  the  abuse.  The  transfer  of  property  to  a  small 
group  of  irresponsible  persons  without  just 
equivalent  means  hardship  and  ruin  for  many 
thousands.  The  use  of  arbitrary  power  over  cap- 
ital, labor,  and  commerce,  secretly,  without  criti- 
cism and  publicity,  tends  to  paralyze  the  moral 
nature  of  those  who  exercise  it,  until  they  actually 


Duties  of  Corporations  249 

call  darkness  light,  and  black  white.  Such  evils 
only  in  part  correct  themselves,  for  commercial 
and  political  corruption  is  not  a  "self-limiting  dis- 
ease." Most  of  the  abuses  of  extraordinary  power 
are  so  closely  connected  with  valuable  public  serv- 
ices that  they  can  be  corrected  only  with  the 
greatest  wisdom  and  care.  Thus,  for  example, 
speculation  in  stocks,  bonds,  grain,  oil,  etc.,  is 
hard  to  regulate  without  destroying  the  business 
of  dealing  in  these  commodities.  In  the  manage- 
ment of  manufactures,  railroads,  and  commerce, 
the  business  requires  ingenuity,  energy,  central 
administration,  and  interference  must  be  ex- 
tremely wise  if  it  does  not  injure  public  interests. 

Examples  of  the  complaints  of  abuses  of  power 
by  privileged  corporations  may  here  be  cited,  not 
to  create  prejudice  but  to  direct  thought  upon 
specific  problems. 

In  more  than  a  few  instances  it  can  be  shown 
that  small  groups  of  astute  directors  have  estab- 
lished railroads  by  favor  of  the  state  giving 
bounties  in  land  and  money,  by  giving  valuable 
franchises  amounting  to  monopoly  without  any 
return ;  then  the  directors  have  so  manipulated 
the  road  that  the  stockholders  have  been  cheated 
out  of  their  investments,  that  the  inside  "ring" 
might  become  enriched ;  and  then  the  rates  have 
been  so  arranged  as  to  favor  selected  customers 


250  Social  Duties 

and  towns  at  the  expense  of  other  customers  and 
towns.  At  every  turn  only  one  interest  has  con- 
trolled all  action — the  interest  of  the  little  group 
of  directors  who  were  in  the  secret  of  manage- 
ment 

The  manufacturers  of  steel  and  steel  products 
have  been  arraigned  for  alleged  misconduct  and 
selfish  policy ;  and  it  has  been  asserted  specifically 
that  they  have  secured  from  Congress  special 
tariffs  on  imported  steel  and  then  charged  Ameri- 
can customers  higher  prices  than  they  charged 
foreign  customers ;  that  they  have  ruined  competi- 
tors by  unfair  means ;  that  they  have  exploited 
their  workmen  by  working  them  inhumanly  long 
hours,  subjecting  them  to  unnecessary  perils  of 
life  and  limb,  and  leaving  them  to  starve  when 
they  were  disabled  in  the  course  of  their  occupa- 
tion. 

Other  large  corporations  dealing  in  sugar, 
flour,  oil,  and  other  necessary  commodities  are 
charged  with  suppressing  competition  and  then 
raising  the  price  of  the  goods  beyond  what  it 
would  be  if  competition  prevailed;  that  they  have 
corrupted  legislatures  and  courts  to  gain  their 
ends ;  that  they  have  burdened  every  poor  family 
with  an  excessive  charge  for  their  services;  and 
that  the  successful  manipulators  spend  much  of 


Duties  of  Corporations  251 

the  fortune  in  luxury  and  waste  and  to  the  moral 
degradation  of  their  heirs  left  without  a  motive 
for  industry. 

It  is  constantly  affirmed  by  men  who  have 
studied  specific  cities  that  the  privileges  of  fran- 
chises giving  the  exclusive  use  of  public  property 
in  streets  to  private  persons  for  street  cars,  gas 
pipes,  water  works,  telephones,  etc.,  have  often 
been  secured  without  adequate,  if  any,  return  to 
the  people  by  bribing  members  of  city  councils  to 
be  untrue  to  their  constituents. 

It  has  been  discovered  that  selected  taxpayers 
have  bribed  or  brow-beaten  assessors  and  so  hid- 
den millions  of  personal  property  from  taxation, 
thus  throwing  the  burden  of  supporting  govern- 
ment and  schools  upon  others  much  less  able  to 
bear  this  burden.  A  business  which  does  not 
carry  its  part  of  taxation  has  a  great  advantage 
over  those  whose  managers  willingly  or  unwill- 
ingly pay  the  full  sum  due.  If  a  rich  merchant's 
goods  and  house  are  worth  one  million  dollars 
and  are  assessed  for  taxes  at  five  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  while  a  poor  grocer's  property  worth 
two  thousand  dollars  is  assessed  for  taxes  at 
eighteen  hundred  dollars,  there  is  a  huge  injus- 
tice; and  such  inequality  is  only  too  common. 


252  Sccial  Duties 

IV.       WHAT   IS   SOCIAL  DUTY   IN    VIEW    OF 
SUCH    FACTS? 

I.  Individual  virtue  goes  but  a  little  way  in 
such  a  situation;  the  only  effect  of  being  a  virtu- 
ous taxpayer  is  to  be  robbed  by  tax-dodgers  who 
make  lying  and  even  perjured  returns  to  assessors. 
It  does  a  family  little  good  to  be  honest  when 
transportation  and  lighting  companies  are  laying 
enormous  charges  upon  them  in  monopoly  prices 
for  goods  and  services.  We  must  find  a  way 
to  educate  the  conscience  of  the  great  managers 
or  compel  them  to  do  justly. 

Unfortunately  the  obligation  of  the  managers  of  our 
corporations  to  the  public  is  not  yet  as  clearly  recognized 
as  their  obligation  to  the  stockholders.  Some  of  those 
who  are  most  scrupulous  about  doing  all  that  they  can 
for  the  stockholders  make  this  an  excuse  for  doing  as 
little  as  they  can  for  the  public  in  general,  and  disclaim 
indignantly  the  existence  of  any  wider  trust  or  any  out- 
side duty  which  should  interfere  with  the  performance 
of  their  primary  trust  to  the  last  penny.  There  is  many 
a  man  who  in  the  conduct  of  his  own  life,  and  even  of 
his  own  personal  business,  is  scrupulously  regardful  of 
public  opinion,  but  who,  as  the  president  of  a  corporation, 
disregards  that  opinion  rather  ostentatiously.  Personally 
he  is  sensitive  to  public  condemnation,  but  as  a  trustee 
he  honestly  believes  that  he  has  no  right  to  indulge  any 
such  sensitiveness.  He  is  unselfish  in  the  one  case,  and 
selfish  in  the  other.' 

'  A,  T.  Hadley,  Standards  of  Public  Morality,  pp.  84  ff. 


Duties  of  Corporations  253 

2.  It  is  evident  that  no  wise  and  salutary  action 
can  ever  be  taken  in  the  dark  by  citizens  who  are 
excited  to  indignation  over  stories  of  their  wrongs 
but  who  do  not  know  the  facts  from  trustworthy 
and  rehable  sources.  If  a  private  citizen  asks  a 
corrupt  manager  for  facts  he  will  be  kicked  out 
of  the  office;  indeed  he  can  never  secure  an  inter- 
view with  the  person  really  responsible. 

Public  corporations  must  have  public  accounts, 
for  publicity  alone  will  enable  the  citizens  to  act 
justly  both  to  the  corporations  and  to  the  com- 
munity. For  the  nation  is  really  served  by  cor- 
porations and  with  great  efficiency,  and  it  is  only 
abuses  that  require  correction.  An  honest  directo- 
rate will  have  nothing  to  conceal;  and  brigands 
should  be  forced  to  show  their  accounts.  The 
necessity  for  publicity  has  been  acknowledged 
officially  by  one  of  the  greatest  corporations  the 
world  has  known : 

I  say  with  the  utmost  frankness  that  I  now  believe  the 
policy  of  silence  which  the  company  maintained  for  so 
many  years,  amid  the  misrepresentations  which  assailed 
it,  was  a  mistaken  policy,  which,  if  earlier  abandoned, 
would  have  saved  the  company  from  the  injurious  effects 
of  much  of  that  misrepresentation.^ 

When  the  multitude  of  consumers,  whose  pain- 
ful daily  economies  compel  them  to  give  attention 

*  John  D.  Archbold,  vice-president  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company,  in  Saturday  Evening  Post,  December  7,   1907. 


2  54  Social  Duties 

to  all  that  affects  their  interests,  seek  for  light  on 
the  conduct  of  quasi-public  corporations,  they 
are  baffled  by  conflicting  reports  and  rumors ;  they 
are  virtually  compelled  to  pass  some  sort  of  judg- 
ment and  seek  relief.  If  the  only  persons  who 
know  all  the  facts  refuse  to  make  statements,  an 
adverse  judgment  is  inevitable  and,  if  uncontra- 
dicted, will  surely  find  expression  in  legislation. 
The  people  must  finally  be  trusted  with  the  truth, 
and  they  will  insist  on  having  it. 

The  leaders  of  the  great  industries  are  usually 
selected  from  our  most  capable  men;  the  repre- 
sentatives of  government  are  frequently  incapable, 
if  not  dishonest  and  corrupt;  and  it  has  been 
natural  that  strongly  individualistic  "captains  of 
industry"  should  despise  officials  and  resent  their 
interference.  But  not  all  public  officials  are  weak 
and  wicked;  and  if  they  were  the  leaders  of  cor- 
porations should  be  the  first  to  help  secure  better 
men  for  office;  for,  after  all,  corporations  are  but 
creatures  of  government  and  have  no  rights  ex- 
cept what  they  have  been  conditionally  given  by 
governrtient  of  the  people  and  for  the  people. 
Success  in  amassing  wealth  may  blind  arrogant 
business  men  to  this  commonplace  fact,  but  blind- 
ness is  not  a  good  qualification  for  facing  reality, 
and  the  people  "cannot  be  fooled  all  the  time,"  as 
Lincoln  said. 


Duties  of  Corporations  255 

In  the  words  of  President  Hadley,  who,  as  a 
conservative  and  instructed  economist,  is  entitled 
to  respectful  hearing: 

The  constitution  guarantees  that  no  man  shall  be  de- 
prived of  his  property  without  due  process  of  law;  that 
no  state  shall  pass  any  law  impairing  the  obligation  of 
contract;  and  that  a  corporation  has  the  right  of  a  per- 
son in  the  sense  of  being  entitled  to  fair  and  equal  treat- 
ment. The  conservatism  of  the  American  people  goes 
farther  than  this.  It  supports  a  business  man  in  the 
exercise  of  his  traditional  rights,  because  it  believes,  on 
the  basis  of  the  experience  of  centuries,  that  the  exer- 
cise of  these  rights  will  conduce  to  the  public  interests. 
It  puts  the  large  industries  of  the  country  in  the  hands 
of  corporations,  even  when  this  results  in  creating  cor- 
porate monopoly,  because  it  distrusts  the  unrestricted  ex- 
tension of  government  activity,  and  believes  that  busi- 
ness is  on  the  whole  better  handled  by  commerical 
agencies  than  by  political  ones.  But  every  case  of  failure 
to  meet  public  needs  somewhat  shakes  the  public  in  this 
confidence;  and  this  confidence  is  not  only  shaken  but 
destroyed  if  the  manager  of  a  corporation  claims  im- 
munity from  interference  as  a  moral  or  constitutional 
right,  independent  of  the  public  interests  involved.  Those 
who  fear  the  effects  of  increased  government  activity 
must  prove  by  their  acceptance  of  ethical  duties  to  the 
public  that  they  are  not  blind  devotees  of  an  industrial 
past  which  has  ceased  to  exist,  but  are  preparing  to 
accept  the  heavier  burdens  and  obligations  which  the 
industrial  present  carries  with  it. 

In  the  long  run  business  men,  courts,  legisla- 
tors, governors,  and  presidents,  will  do  what  the 


256  Social  Duties 

people  believe  ought  to  be  done;  and  what  the 
people  think  and  will  comes  from  the  wide  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge  of  facts  and  principles.  There- 
fore when  the  Christian  young  men  of  the  nation 
band  together  for  years,  part  of  every  Sunday, 
to  learn  what  is  right  in  great  affairs,  the  tend- 
ency will  be  to  make  corporations  more  regardful 
of  alert  and  educated  public  opinion.  The  church 
as  an  organization  can  take  no  partisan  position, 
cannot  enforce  laws  nor  make  them,  cannot  have 
a  political  policy  or  programme;  but  it  can  and 
should  help  to  educate  men  and  women  who 
know  what  is  right  and  will  have  the  moral  cour- 
age as  citizens  to  demand  and  enforce  reasonable 
laws. 

3.  Even  as  it  is  we  can  expect  much  from 
resolute  and  intelligent  action  by  executive  of- 
ficers of  government  and  from  courts  in  the 
enforcement  of  law  as  it  stands  now.  For  ex- 
ample, a  sturdy  and  honest  president  has  brought 
to  their  knees  rich  men  who  were  literally  stealing 
lands  and  mines  and  timber  which  belong  to 
the  nation.  Without  partiality  the  national  con- 
science demands  of  public  leaders  that  they  punish 
and  repress  tramps,  thieves,  robbers,  and  burg- 
lars, whether  the  property  stolen  is  a  paper  of 
pins,  or  a  coal  mine,  a  railroad,  an  insurance  fund, 
or  a  forest  of  valuable  trees. 


I 


Duties  of  Corporations  257 

The  revolution  in  the  corrupt  management  of 
certain  great  hfe-insurance  companies  is  an  ex- 
ample of  what  may  be  done  by  an  enlightened 
public  opinion  acting  through  capable  and  upright 
executives. 

4.  Short  of  socialism  there  are  various  meth- 
ods by  which  the  public  can  protect  its  rights 
against  the  encroachment  of  corporations  which 
it  has  created  and  which  have  grown  under  be- 
nign protection  of  law  to  such  huge  proportions. 
The  courts  have  already  so  interpreted  the  laws 
and  applied  them  in  particular  cases  as  to  prevent 
selfish  and  unscrupulous  use  of  power  and  wealth 
and  commercial  organization.  Courts  are  human 
in  character  and  judgment,  and  they  cannot  go 
beyond  constitutions  and  laws  made  within  con- 
stitutional limits;  and  often  they  are  under  the 
hampering  influence  of  traditions  which  no 
longer  fit  modern  industrial  conditions.  But 
with  all  their  limitations  the  courts  of  our  land 
are  the  best  representatives  of  a  wise,  careful,  just 
judgment  of  the  common  welfare. 

Next  to  courts  of  law  come  the  commissions 
which  are  appointed  by  states  and  federal  govern- 
ment to  regulate  the  action  of  corporations  and 
see  that  they  conform  to  the  law.  The  most 
conspicuous  and  well-known  example  of  this 
method  of  public  control  is  the  Interstate  Com- 


258  Social  Duties 

merce  Commission,  whose  chief  task  is  to  regu- 
late the  conduct  of  the  railroads  in  matters  of 
rates. 

When  a  corporation  is  created  and  given  a 
franchise  the  state  or  city  may  control  its  conduct 
in  the  future  by  making  it  a  condition  that  a 
certain  part  of  the  profits  go  to  the  community 
treasury,  or  that  streets  be  kept  in  good  order, 
or  that  fares  are  reduced,  or  that  workingmen 
are  humanely  treated  in  matters  of  hours  and 
wages.  The  granting  of  a  franchise  is  an  oppor- 
tunity for  the  public  to  restrict  the  selfishness  of 
a  corporation  and  to  oblige  it  to  respect  various 
common  rights. 

Another  method  of  control  is  public  ownership 
of  plant,  as  of  tracks  and  cars  of  a  street  railway, 
with  leases  to  corporations  on  fixed  terms  which 
protect  common  interests  during  the  life  of  the 
contract. 

In  the  last  resort,  and  when  all  milder  measures 
fail,  the  city,  state,  or  nation  always  reserves  the 
right  to  purchase  and  control  any  kind  of  busi- 
ness, and  so  manage  it  that  the  profits  shall  go  to 
all  and  the  employees  shall  be  treated  as  the  con- 
science of  the  people  requires.  In  its  extreme 
application  this  would  be  socialism,  a  system 
under  which  all  capital,  all  instruments  of  pro- 
duction, would  be  owned  and  managed  by  the 


Duties  of  Corporations  259 

community.  For  reasons  already  indicated  the 
people  of  America  and  other  modern  nations 
never  resort  to  this  method  until  all  others  fail. 
Examples  of  such  public  management  may  be  seen 
in  caring  for  the  sewerage  of  cities,  rivers,  and 
harbors,  the  federal  post-office,  city  water  works, 
and  some  other  public  utilities. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 
At  the  conference  on  trusts  and  combinations  held  in 
Chicago,  October,  1907,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
National  Civic  Federation,  the  following  subjects  were 
considered :  Should  the  federal  government,  alone  or  in 
harmony  with  state  governments,  regulate  interstate 
commerce?  In  relation  to  corporations:  How  should 
they  be  constructed?  Should  there  be  national  corpora- 
tions as  well  as  those  created  by  the  state?  What  should 
be  the  basis  of  capitalization  of  corporations?  of  their 
internal  control?  the  provisions  looking  to  the  protection 
of  investors  and  stockholders,  as  well  as  fair  dealing 
with  the  public?  Should  there  be  a  distinction  between 
public-service  and  other  corporations?  Should  quasi- 
public  utilities,  like  gas,  electric  lighting,  and  street  rail- 
ways, be  considered  natural  monopolies  to  be  regulated 
by  the  municipality?  What  is  the  just  and  practicable 
limit  of  restriction  and  regulation,  federal  and  state,  of 
combinations  in  transportation,  production,  distribution 
and  labor?  Shall  the  Sherman  anti-trust  act  be  amended? 
If  so,  how? 

From  the  highest  official  in  our  nation,  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt,  we  have  clear,  strong,  and  distinct 
declarations  of  the  moral  principles  which  are  at 


26o  Social  Duties 

the  heart  of  the  recent  movement  to  protect  honest 
corporations,  to  punish  criminals  in  high  places, 
and  to  protect  the  just  rights  of  stockholders, 
employees,  consumers,  and  all  members  of  the 
community.  Perhaps  we  cannot  find  a  more 
accurate  statement  of  the  general  drift  of  edu- 
cated public  opinion,  although  considerable  differ- 
ences of  opinion  exist  in  respect  to  particular 
points,  than  in  the  following  utterance  by  the 
President : 

Experience  has  shown  that  it  is  necessary  to  exercise 
a  far  more  efficient  control  than  at  present  over  the 
business  use  of  these  vast  fortunes,  chiefly  corporate,  in 
interstate  business. 

There  is  no  objection  in  the  minds  of  this  people  to 
any  man's  earning  any  amount  of  money  if  he  does  it 
honestly  and  fairly,  if  he  gets  it  as  the  result  of  special 
skill  and  enterprise,  as  a  reward  of  ample  service  actually 
rendered.  But  there  is  a  growing  determination  that  no 
man  shall  amass  a  great  fortune  by  special  privilege,  by 
chicanery  and  wrong-doing,  so  far  as  it  is  in  the  power 
of  legislation  to  prevent  and  that  the  fortune  shall  not 
have  a  business  use  that  is  antisocial. 

Every  honest  manager  of  a  great  corporation 
will  desire  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of 
laws  which  prevent  the  unscrupulous  from  hav- 
ing an  advantage  in  the  struggle  for  wealth. 
President  Roosevelt  also  said : 

One  great  problem  that  we  have  before  us  is  to  preserve 
the  rights  of  property;  and  these  can  only  be  preserved 


Duties  of  Corporations  261 

if  we  remember  that  they  are  less  in  jeopardy  from  the 
socialist  and  the  anarchist  than  from  the  predatory  man 
of  wealth.  It  has  become  evident  that  to  refuse  to 
invoke  the  power  of  the  nation  to  restrain  the  wrongs 
committed  by  the  man  of  great  wealth  who  does  evil  is 
not  only  to  neglect  the  interests  of  the  public,  but  also 
to  neglect  the  interests  of  the  man  of  means  who  acts 
honorably  by  his  fellows.  The  power  of  the  nation  must 
be  exercised  to  stop  crimes  of  cunning  no  less  than 
crimes  of  violence.  There  can  be  no  halt  in  the  course 
we  have  deliberately  elected  to  pursue,  the  policy  of 
asserting  the  right  of  the  nation,  so  far  as  it  has  the 
power,  to  supervise  and  control  the  business  use  of 
wealth,  especially  in  its  corporate  form. 

Those  who  object  to  this  language  must  do  so 
on  the  ground  that  private  interests  ought  to  be 
permitted  a  free  field,  even  with  numerous  special 
privileges,  without  any  right  on  the  part  of  the 
great  public  even  to  ask  how  their  conduct  affects 
the  people.  That  would  be  slavery,  and  sub- 
mission would  be  a  confession  that  the  nation 
was  not  fit  to  live. 

Legal  and  social  responsibility  must  be  fixed 
on  responsible  persons,  not  on  underlings.  Stock- 
holders of  corporations  are  scattered  over  the 
world  and  ask  only  for  dividends  on  investments. 
To  fine  the  company  has  no  effect  so  long  as  it 
is  cheaper  to  pay  fines  after  long  litigation  than 
to  correct  abuses.     It  is  unjust  to  punish  sub- 


262  Social  Duties 

ordinates  who  may  even  have  protested  against 
the  wrong,  but  have  been  overruled  with  threats 
of  dismissal  by  the  men  at  the  head.   If  the  public 
desires  to  secure  its  welfare  it  must  strike  at  the 
top,  it  must  hit  the  men  who  direct  or  profess  to 
direct  the  policy  of  the  corporation.   If  a  few  di- 
rectors were  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  long  peri- 
ods for  arrogantly  defying  the  law,  there  would 
be  fewer  rich  men  who  pretend  to  belong  to  the 
boards  of  dozens  of  corporations  and  know  really 
little  of  any  one  of  them  except  the  balance  sheets. 
It  is  said  that  we  have  no  right  to  criticize  the 
managers  of  corporations ;  that  such  criticism  in- 
jures credit  and  brings  on  crises  and  serious  dis- 
turbances in  the  financial  world.    But  while  there 
is  much  criticism  that  is  ignorant  and  misdirected, 
are  not  the  dishonest  directors  most  to  blame? 
It  is  notorious  that  the  very  greatest  insurance 
companies  were  nests  of   robbers,   as   is  shown 
by    the    reorganization    after    exposures    which 
brought  a  useful  business  and  our  nation  into 
contempt.     Business  men  of  unquestioned  integ- 
rity and  intelligence  have  found  in  various  cities 
that  in  securing  franchises  the  honest  men  had 
no  chance  of  success  in  competing  with  thieves 
who  were  not  too  scrupulous  to  bribe  councilmen 
and  fix  primaries.     Demagogues  are  to  blame  for 
a  great  deal  of  mischief,  and  labor  leaders  some- 


I 


Duties  of  Corporations  263 

times  excite  class  hate  and  prejudice;  but  they 
derive  their  keenest  arguments  from  statements 
made  by  competent  lawyers,  judges,  and  business 
men  who  lay  bare  the  actual  deeds  of  corporate 
wrong-doers.  Resistance  to  the  legal  require 
ment  of  life-saving  devices  on  railroads,  guards 
to  dangerous  machinery,  and  to  the  prohibition 
of  child-labor  in  mills  and  factories  is  not  a  secret 
but  is  known  to  every  wage-earner  and  social 
student  in  the  nation.  And  until  this  selfish 
policy  is  openly  and  resolutely  fought  by  man- 
agers of  corporations,  and  until  they  cease  sup- 
porting costly  lobbies  at  state  capitals  to  defeat 
humane  and  reasonable  laws,  the  innocent  ma- 
jority must  suffer  with  the  minority  of  directors. 
It  is  idle  to  affirm  that  all  this  antagonism  to 
corporate  mismanagement  is  without  ground.  It 
is  bad  enough  to  do  wrong  to  millions;  it  is  na- 
tional moral  ruin  to  suppress  discussion  by  threats 
of  panics.  A  panic  would  be  a  blessing  if  it 
would  sweep  away  all  the  gigantic  corruption  and 
robbery  which  have  slain  millions  of  children, 
debased  political  life,  set  wage  earners  into  a 
separate  class  against  all  others,  made  virtue  seem 
the  badge  of  weaklings,  taught  the  masses  to  re- 
gard the  church  and  college  as  the  ally  of  strong 
public  enemies,  used  the  press  to  throw  sand  in 
the  eyes  of  the  public,  and  made  men  feel  that 


264  Social  Duties 

their  very  souls  were  the  slaves  of  some  unseen 
power,  and  not  "that  which  makes  for  righteous- 
ness." 

REFERENCES    TO    LITERATURE 

R.  T.  Ely,  Socialism  and  Social  Reform,  and  Monopo- 
lies and  Trusts. 

Ernst  von   Halle,    Trusts  and  Industrial   Combinations 
and  Coalitions  in  the  United  States. 

J.  W.  Jenks,  The  Trust  Problem. 

Reports  of  the  Industrial  Commission. 

E.  A.  Ross,  Sin  and  Society. 

G.  P.  \\'atkins,  The  Grozi'th  of  Large  Fortunes. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

SOCIAL  DUTIES   RELATING   TO  THE  BUSINESS 
CLASS  AND  THE  LEISURE  CLASS 

Since  the  only  alternative  of  having  a  class  of 
capitalist  managers  at  enormous  salaries  ("prof- 
its") to  direct  industry  and  commerce  is  some 
form  of  collectivism  or  socialism  we  may  prop- 
erly consider  these  together.  It  is  not  the  hope 
or  purpose  of  the  writer  to  attempt  any  so-called 
"solution"  of  this  problem,  but  only  to  direct 
attention  upon  its  essential  factors,  and  to  stimu- 
late independent  and  fair-minded  discussion. 

I.       SOCIALISAI,   SOMETIMES  CALLED  COLLECTIV- 
ISM,  WORTHY  OF  CONSIDERATION 

There  is  nothing  essentially  antagonistic  to 
Christianity  in  the  economic  and  political  theory 
of  socialism ;  so  that  a  Christian  man  can  study 
the  proposed  measures  of  socialists  without  re- 
gard to  the  materialistic,  atheistic,  and  immoral 
notions  which  sometimes  accompany  the  popular 
movement.  It  is  our  duty  to  distinguish  certain 
metaphysical  assumptions  of  leading  writers  from 
their  actual  economic  principles. 

Socialism  nowhere  exists  as  a  working  system. 
In  all  civilized  countries  the  actual  economic  and 
political  system  is  that  of  private  property  in  the 
265 


266  Social  Duties 

instruments  of  production,  administration  by- 
owners  and  by  business  managers,  free  contract 
between  employers  and  employed,  payment  for 
services  in  rent,  interest,  salaries,  profits,  or 
wages  according  to  the  kind  of  social  service 
rendered. 

Socialism  is  an  ideal,  not  yet  a  reality  any- 
where; it  is  a  philosophy,  not  an  actual  political 
organization  having  constitutional  and  legal 
foundation;  it  is  a  programme  of  a  movement 
urged  by  millions  of  workingmen  and  their 
leaders;  it  is  a  party  which  urges  revolutionary 
changes,  but  a  party  which  has  in  no  country 
been  intrusted  with  entire  control,  although  in 
several  European  nations  it  holds  the  balance  of 
power  and  can  effectively  demand  many  measures 
short  of  complete  socialization  of  industry. 

1.  The  definitioji  of  socialism  should  be  taken 
from  its  friends,  not  from  its  enemies.  These 
definitions  vary  considerably,  yet  they  converge 
upon  one  point:  the  public  control  of  all  lands, 
machinery,  and  means  of  transportation,  as  con- 
trasted with  control  by  private  owners  and  mana- 
gers. 

2.  Classic  creeds  of  socialism. — It  is  proper  to 
speak  of  creeds  in  this  connection  because  social- 
ism has  with  many  taken  the  place  of  religion  and 
because  it  is  a  set  of  articles  of  faith  in  a  future 


The  Business  and  Leisure  Classes  267 

social  state  on  earth,  rather  than  a  description  and 
explanation  of  an  actnal  social  system. 

3.  Dangerous  doctrines  of  some  of  the  Social- 
ists.— Certain  influential  leaders  of  this  party  have 
advocated  the  abolition  of  the  family,  or,  such 
radical  reconstruction  of  it  as  to  destroy  it.  Lax 
notions  about  "free  love,"  easy  divorce,  excuses 
for  sensuality,  have  been  promulgated  in  the  name 
of  socialism;  but  they  are  not  a  necessary  part  of 
its  economic  and  political  principles. 

Occasionally  a  violent  and  destructive  assault 
on  the  present  institutions  of  government,  with 
wholesale  murder  and  confiscation,  has  been  urged 
by  hot-headed  revolutionists  of  collectivism;  but 
in  general  the  party  seeks  to  attain  its  ultimate 
ends  by  gradual  and  peaceful  changes  in  the  con- 
stitutions and  laws. 

4.  Why  society  hesitates  to  establish  a  social- 
istic government. — Only  a  few  hints  on  this  large 
subject  can  here  be  offered.  Perhaps  the  follow- 
ing reasons,  if  properly  expanded  with  illustra- 
tions and  proofs,  may  be  regarded  as  influential 
in  Europe  and  America. 

It  is  believed  that  each  man  will  be  most  in- 
dustrious, ingenious,  inventive,  energetic,  and 
hence  produce  most  for  social  needs,  if  he  is  left 
free  and  responsible  for  his  own  support.  It  is 
thought  that  individual  enterprise  is  more  fruit- 


268  Social  Duties 

fill  than  state  enterprise.  Practical  men  fear  to 
increase  beyond  necessity  the  army  of  civil  officers 
and  employees  of  nation,  states,  and  cities,  lest 
they  should  control  all  activities  and  practically 
enslave  all  others.  It  is  said  that  most  public  em- 
ployees become  lazy,  negligent,  and  mechanical, 
and  combine  to  reduce  their  productivity  and  to 
increase  their  income  at  public  expense.  If  the 
state  were  the  only  employer  of  labor  and  talent 
there  would  be  but  one  market  and  the  income  of 
each  man  would  be  determined  by  popular  vote 
or  by  administrative  rules.  Lurid  pictures  are 
painted  of  the  monotony,  slavery,  stagnation,  per- 
haps extinction,  of  a  society  so  organized. 

Rather  than  risk  these  imagined,  perhaps  prob- 
able, evils,  society  at  present  prefers  to  accept  the 
evil  with  the  good  of  the  capitalistic  system; 
prefers  to  intrust  the  management  of  business 
to  men  selected  by  severe  competition  as  the  most 
capable  for  the  purpose;  prefers  to  give  them 
as  profits  all  that  is  left  after  wages,  interest, 
taxes,  insurance,  and  other  expenses  have  been 
paid;  prefers  to  give  them  a  free  hand  and  almost 
absolute  control  of  better  machinery,  men,  and 
product,  rather  than  meddle  too  much  with  their 
plans  and  conduct. 

Under  this  system,  it  is  true,  comparatively 
few    men    become    enormously    rich,    sometimes 


The  Business  and  Leisure  Classes  269 

within  a  few  years;  that  is,  they  pay  themselves 
fabulous  sums  for  the  service  they  render,  or  they 
simply  plunder  the  public  while  the  public  prop- 
erty is  intrusted  to  them.  Yet,  so  great  is  the 
dread  of  socialism,  and  of  its  supposed  conse- 
quences, that  most  men  in  modern  countries  hesi- 
tate to  exchange  the  known  inconveniences  for 
others  which  ma)''  be  far  greater;  and  they  hope 
to  tame,  control,  and  utilize  the  men  of  genius 
and  talent,  rather  than  lose  the  value  of  their 
gifts  by  asking  them  to  work  in  chains. 

5.  Duty  of  the  church  to  Socialists. — Mani- 
festly it  is  our  duty,  first  of  all,  to  try  to  under- 
stand them  and  their  teachings,  to  treat  them 
fairly  in  word  and  deed,  to  correct  their  errors 
by  offering  a  larger  truth  and  a  better  way,  if 
possible. 

So  far  as  their  political  and  economic  platform 
is  concerned,  the  church  has  no  more  reason  to 
attack  or  defend  it  than  in  case  of  the  proposi- 
tions of  any  other  political  party. 

If  Socialists  point  out  evils  in  our  present 
system  we  ought  to  heed  them,  and  if  they  sug- 
gest a  practical  plan  of  improvement  we  should 
hear  them  without  prejudice,  remembering  that 
their  leaders  are  either  sufferers  or  on  intimate 
terms  of  confidence  with  the  sufferers.  It  is  not 
safe  to  stop  up  the  vent  of  an  escape  valve  when 


270  Social  Duties 

steam  pressure  approaches  the  bursting  tension. 
It  is  dangerous  to  suppress  free  speech  when  dis- 
contented men  express  the  grievances  of  a  muUi- 
tude  of  voters.  The  answer  to  a  heresy  is  truth, 
not  a  dungeon  or  a  scaffold. 

II.       SOCIAL  DUTIES  TOWARD  THE  CLASS  OF 
BUSINESS    MANAGERS 

It  is  altogether  probable  that  some  men  of  this 
class  will  resent  any,  even  the  slightest  suggestion 
that  they  are  a  "social  problem,"  that  their  morals 
require  public  attention.  A  popular  piece  of 
profanity  is  supposed  to  express  the  ordinary  con- 
tempt of  successful  men  for  public  opinion. 

We  lack  thus  far  any  satisfactory  investigation 
of  the  conduct  of  the  leaders  of  commerce  and 
industry,  and  we  should  express  general  criticism 
with  careful  reserve.  Much  as  they  are  before 
the  public,  thoroughly  as  they  are  advertised,  they 
have  their  secrets  and  guard  them  with  jealous 
care.  What  is  written  in  this  chapter,  therefore, 
is  intended  to  start  questions,  to  direct  observation 
and  inquiry  upon  vital  points,  and  to  command 
not  only  that  charity  which  is  due  to  all,  but  also 
that  judicial  fairness  which  it  is  sometimes  so  hard 
to  maintain  toward  successful  neighbors.  No- 
where is  it  more  desirable  to  keep  our  judgments 
of  men  well  within  the  limits  of  ascertained  facts, 


The  Business  and  Leisure  Classes  271 

and  to  refrain  from  any  damaging  assertion 
which  cannot  be  proved  by  competent  testimony. 
Indeed  the  primary  social  duty  to  business 
managers  is  to  ascertain  the  facts  so  far  as  they 
bear  on  the  conduct  of  the  community,  upon  criti- 
cism, upon  legislation,  upon  the  decisions  of 
juries,  the  discipline  of  churches,  and  any  actions 
which  may  affect  the  comfort  and  honor  of  a 
large  number  of  our  fellow-men.  That  business 
men  need  such  defense  as  comes  from  a  fair  and 
intelligent  public  opinion  may  be  shown  by  the 
treatment  often  accorded  them  by  juries  in  the 
courts.  Here  again  we  cannot  pretend  to  offer 
statistical  proofs ;  we  do  not  know,  perhaps  could 
not  discover,  what  proportion  of  trials  involving- 
rich  men  and  corporations  before  juries  have 
been  unfairly  decided.  But  judging  by  numerous 
testimonies  of  lawyers,  judges,  newspapers,  and 
business  men,  and  by  the  current  talk  about  courts, 
we  are  safe  in  affirming  that  juries  of  men  in 
ordinary  circumstances  often  give  verdicts  which 
are  not  sustained  by  facts  or  by  law. 

That  there  is  often  provocation  for  juries  to 
wreak  revenge  when  they  get  a  chance  we  may 
affirm  on  the  ground  of  the  same  kind  of  evidence. 
But  should  not  public  opinion  condemn  verdicts 
which  show  a  manifest  bias  of  class  envy  and 
revenge?    Will  not  a  thoroughly  enlightened  con- 


272  Social  Duties 

science  seek  to  right  wrongs  through  change  in 
laws  rather  than  in  making  the  courts  the  instru- 
ment of  vengeance  and  class  passion? 

If  the  "business  managers"  as  a  class  are,  as 
Socialists  affirm,  bloodsuckers  and  parasites,  if 
they  really  are  useless  members  of  society,  if  they 
reap  where  they  do  not  sow,  if  they  spoil  the 
people  and  render  no  equivalent  in  services,  then 
let  us  find  a  substitute  for  their  leadership  in 
salaried  officers  and  declare  their  places  vacant. 

But  if  the  business  manager  does  render  a  ser- 
vice to  all  of  us  by  the  invention  of  methods, 
by  hard  work  of  administration,  by  able  and  eco- 
nomical organization  of  mills,  mines,  factories, 
railways,  and  telegraph  companies,  then  let  us 
not  object  to  his  paying  himself  out  of  the  profits 
of  business.  It  is  either  the  business  manager  or 
socialism ;  there  is  no  other  alternative. 

If  the  business  manager  takes  more  than  society 
thinks  he  earns  there  are  various  legal  ways  of 
restricting  his  exploitations  and  securing  a  larger 
share  of  the  product  for  other  classes,  as  by  trade- 
unions,  co-operative  societies,  inheritance  taxes, 
income  taxes,  state  commissions,  contracts  in  let- 
ting franchises,  and  other  methods  of  legal 
control. 

But  so  long  as  society  chooses,  on  the  whole,  to 
leave  to  business  managers  the  responsibility  of 


The  Business  and  Leisure  Classes  273 

directing  manufactures  and  trade,  it  is  neither 
wise  nor  just  to  make  courts  into  instruments  of 
petty  persecution  or  means  of  satisfying  envy. 
The  meanest  passions  of  mankind,  as  envy,  hate, 
revenge,  are  not  good  counselors  in  a  democracy. 

If  fortunes  have  been  made  by  reckless  or  dishonest 
management  of  large  corporations,  the  obvious  remedies 
are,  reform  of  our  corporation  laws  and  the  cultivation  of 
higher  standards  of  business  morals New  legisla- 
tion will  be  needed,  but  the  relentless  enforcement  of 
existing  laws  against  such  old-fashioned  offenses  as  con- 
spiracy and  theft  would  probably  go  far  to  accomplish 
the  desired  result.  Make  it  as  dangerous  to  mismanage 
a  transcontinental  railway  as  to  hold  up  a  transconti- 
nental express,  and  you  will  speedily  reduce  one  class 
of  swollen  fortunes.  Make  it  as  perilous  for  an  officer 
to  plunder  an  insurance  company  as  for  a  clerk  to  ap- 
propriate a  few  hundred  dollars  from  its  funds,  and  you 
will  reduce  another  class.  Punish  the  financier  who  loots 
a  street  railway  as  you  punish  the  hungry  man  who  robs 
a  bakery,  and  you  will  reach  a  third  class  of  fortunes.* 

The  same  author  further  urges  that  laws  to  pre- 
vent railways  from  favoring  rich  customers  by  re- 
bates and  otherwise  will  give  competition  a  chance 
to  protect  the  public.  When  the  protective  tariff 
has  built  up  fortunes  at  the  cost  of  the  public  their 
modification  or  repeal  would  drain  the  superfluous 
wealth  which  was  ill-gotten.    The  exploitation  of 

^  Professor  C.  J.  Bullock,  State  and  Local  Taxation,  pp. 
234,  235- 


274  Social  Duties 

franchises  has  been  a  dishonorable  source  of 
riches  to  certain  men,  and  effective  control  of 
public-service  corporations  would  correct  this  evil. 

III.       THE  LEISURE  CLASS 

The  "leisure  class"  includes  the  second  crop  of 
the  children  of  the  "business  managers."  It  is  a 
new  phenomenon  in  American  life.  It  has  been 
supposed  that  money-making  was  the  American 
disease,  a  form  of  insanity  which  attacks  all  our 
business  men.  But  now  we  begin  to  hear  com- 
plaints that  our  fertile  soil  of  new  fortunes  is 
producing  a  leisure  class  of  "busybodies  who  do 
nothing  at  all."  Here  again  really  scientific  col- 
lections of  facts  are  wanting.  We  have  no  right 
to  accuse  a  whole  class  of  wrongdoing  which  may 
be  confined  to  a  minority  or  to  exceptional  cases 
of  persons  disliked  and  condemned  in  their  own 
circles. 

But  while  we  are  waiting  for  some  competent 
student  of  social  science  to  accumulate,  arrange, 
and  interpret  the  facts  about  the  leisure  class, 
we  are  safe  in  seeking  the  meaning  of  certain 
tendencies,  fashions,  and  conduct  which  are  not 
only  notorious  but  are  ostentatiously  and  insult- 
ingly thrust  into  our  faces.  Our  condemnation 
must  not  be  taken  to  go  one  inch  beyond  the  per- 
sons actually  guilty,  and  they  do  not  sweepingly 


The  Business  and  Leisure  Classes  275 

cover  the  whole  area  of  any  section  of  population. 
Even  in  many  of  the  homes  of  luxury  there  are 
acts  of  devotion,  self-denial,  charity,  patriotism, 
religion.  The  very  rich  live  so  far  away  from 
most  of  us,  up  there  in  another  world,  on  Olym- 
pian heights,  that  we  never  hear  of  many  of  the 
good  deeds  which  they  do  though  they  are  usually 
not  hidden  from  reporters. 

Professor  G.  H.  Palmer,  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, a  man  of  wide  observation  and  calm  philo- 
sophic judgment,  voices  a  general  truth  when 
he  says : 

It  is  now  acknowledged  that  the  most  questionable 
advantage  of  large  wealth  is  its  influence  on  children. 
Those  who  acquire  it  are  likely  enough  to  grow  with  its 
pursuit,  and  the  control  over  the  world  which  it  brings 
to  its  vigorous  accumulator  is  not  unfavorable  to  enjoy- 
ment or  to  still  further  advance.  But  children  who  have 
never  known  want  get  few  deep  draughts  of  joy.  Who- 
ever prizes  human  conditions  in  proportion  to  their  tend- 
ency to  develop  powers  must  commiserate  the  children  of 
the  rich  and  think  of  them  as  our  unfortunate  classes. 
They  associate  less  with  their  parents  than  do  others; 
their  goings  and  comings  are  more  hampered ;  they  are 
not  so  easily  habituated  to  regular  tasks;  ....  and  when 
tempted  to  vice  or  mediocrity  they  have  little  counter 
compulsion  to  support  their  better  purpose.  Wise  rich 
parents  know  these  dangers  and  give  their  anxious 
thought  to  shielding  their  children  from  the  enervating 
influence  of  wealth.* 

^Professor  G.  H.  Palmer,  p.  21. 


276  Social  Duties 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 
Let  the  class  make  a  list  of  all  the  sons  of  wealthy 
men    of    whom    they    can    learn,    and    ascertain    whether 
wealth  has  been  to  them  a  help  or  a  disadvantage. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

T.  Veblen,  Theory  of  Business  Enterprise. 

,  Theory  of  the  Leisure  Class. 

J.  B.  Spahr,  Distribution  of  Wealth. 

J.  S.  Mill,  Principles  of  Political  Economy  (Appleton 
ed.),  on  "Spendthrifts." 

C.  R.  Henderson,  Social  Elements,  chaps,  vii-ix;  Social 
Spirit  in   America,  chaps,  vii-x. 

J.  B.  Clark,  Philosophy  of  Wealth. 

R.   T.   Ely,  Socialism  and  Social  Reform. 

J.  G.  Brooks,  The  Social  Unrest. 


CHAPTER  XV 

SOCIAL  DUTIES  IN  RELATION  TO  GOVERNMENT 

Let  every  soul  be  in  subjection  to  the  higher  powers: 

for  there  is  no  power  but  of  God ;  and  the  powers  that 

be    are    ordained    of    God For    this    cause    ye    pay 

tribute    also;    for    they    are    ministers    of    God's    service 
(Rom.  13:1-7)- 

I.       THE   CHIEF   FORMS   OF  GOVERNMENT 

(i)  The  national  or  federal  government,  with 
its  central  offices  at  Washington,  is  that  agency 
through  which  the  entire  nation  executes  its  will, 
defends  every  citizen  and  every  part  of  territory 
from  foreign  attack,  and  secures  unity  and  law 
for  every  state.  (2)  State  governments  consti- 
tute another  form,  with  their  constitutions  and 
laws,  their  courts  and  administrative  officers. 
(3)  Lastly,  we  have  local  governments,  as  of 
counties,  cities  and  towns,  or  townships. 

II.       WHAT   IS   THE   USE   OF   GOVERNMENT? 

Government  in  this  country  is  not  something 
imposed  on  us  nor  given  to  us,  but  it  is  an  institu- 
tion which  has  grown  with  the  needs  of  men  and 
is  maintained  by  the  will  and  means  of  the  people. 

Modern   democracy,   the   rise   of   the   people  to   power, 

has   put   into   the    hands    of   the   doer    of    good    and    the 

righter  of  wrongs  a  tool  the  reformer  in  Wesley's  time 

had    not.      That    tool    is    the    free    democratic    republic, 

277 


278  Social  Duties 

through  which  the  power  of  all  can  be  used  for  the 
benefit  of  all.  Democracy  is  the  use  of  all  the  resources 
of  nature  by  all  the  faculties  of  man  for  the  good  of  all 
the  people.  The  reformer  today  is  thrice-armed ;  to  per- 
sonal effort  he  can  add  political  effort.  He  can  socialize, 
organize  the  doing  of  good.     He  can  institutionalize  the 

Golden  Rule Our  central  problem  is  to  regenerate 

the  individual,  and  the  proof  that  an  individual  has  been 
regenerated  is  that  he  proceeds  to  regenerate  things  about 
him — and  that's  Democracy,  and  that's  the  Religion  of 
Labor.* 

The  people  of  a  land  or  of  a  town  can  do  some 
things  for  the  common  welfare  better  through 
government  than  in  any  other  way.  Some  illus- 
trations will  make  this  clear  and  show  what  a 
people  can  accomplish  by  means  of  a  good  gov- 
ernment, (i)  The  first  condition  of  life  is  public 
order,  since  we  could  not  make  plans  of  business 
or  pleasure  or  worship  if  we  were  exposed  to 
interruption  and  disturbance  by  persons  who 
chose  to  act  selfishly.  There  are  always  men 
ready  to  enjoy  their  lives  in  a  way  to  annoy  and 
injure  others  unless  there  is  a  power  to  restrain 
them:  and  in  order  to  have  rules  of  conduct  for 
all  we  must  have  a  law  made  by  consent  of  all. 
No  private  individual  can  be  trusted  to  make 
regulations  for  all  others.  (2)  Protection  is 
needed  against  the  attacks  of  rude,  selfish,  dis- 
honest,  and   criminal   men.      Without   law   and 

*  H.  D.  Lloyd,  Man,  the  Social  Creator,  p.  273. 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government         270 

courts  and  police,  strong  and  bad  men  will  rob  or 
hurt  children  and  women  and  the  sick  or  aged. 
We  sleep  in  greater  security  only  because  the 
policemen  walk  the  street  at  night  and  watch 
lawless  men.  The  firemen  defend  our  houses 
against  fire,  often  at  risk  of  life.  (3)  Laws  and 
rulers  guard  and  regulate  liberty  of  speech  and 
action  so  that  the  equal  freedom  of  all  is  not 
hindered.  There  is  no  liberty  without  law.  The 
very  word  "rights"  has  no  reality  under  it  in  the 
absence  of  government.  (4)  It  is  through  gov- 
ernment that  health  is  protected.  Only  by  law 
can  ignorant  and  careless  persons  be  prevented 
from  leaving  foul  and  decaying  matter  to  poison 
air  and  water.  Boards  of  health  in  states  and 
cities  enact  and  enforce  regulations  which  pre- 
vent the  spread  of  diseases  like  cholera,  smallpox, 
scarlet  fever,  diphtheria,  and  consumption.  At  the 
seaports  all  immigrants  are  examined  to  see  that 
they  do  not  infect  others  with  dreadful  diseases. 
Hospitals  are  frequently  erected  or  paid  for  heal- 
ing the  sick;  and  scientific  men  are  kept  busy 
studying  the  causes  of  illness  and  means  of  pre- 
vention. (5)  Ways  of  travel  and  transportation 
are  either  furnished  or  improved  and  regulated  by 
governments.  Over  the  entire  land  is  a  network 
of  roads,  paths,  and  highways  which  have  been 
provided  by  laws  and  improved  by  of^cials  elected 


28o  Social  Duties 

by  the  people.  (6)  The  postal  S3^stei'n  is  a  fine 
illustration  of  means  of  communication  open  to 
rich  and  poor  alike  and  kept  from  private  control. 
This  system  reaches  every  nook  and  corner  of  the 
land ;  it  serves  many  humble  villages  and  homes 
which  could  not  afford  to  send  and  receive  letters 
if  they  were  compelled  to  depend  on  private  enter- 
prise. In  Europe  the  telegraph  and  telephone,  as 
well  as  the  postal  system,  are  managed  cheaply 
and  efficiently  by  state  governments.  (7)  Men 
need  frequently  to  have  a  peaceable  and  impartial 
means  of  defining  their  rights  and  duties,  and 
when  "self  the  wavering  balance  shakes,  'tis  rarely 
right  adjusted."  Men  bring  such  disputes  before 
the  learned  and  impartial  courts  and,  without 
violence,  accept  and  act  upon  the  lawful  decision. 
The  alternative  would  be  fighting,  in  which  the 
strong  and  cunning  rather  than  the  upright  would 
have  the  advantage.  (8)  Few  citizens  have  taken 
the  pains  to  learn  what  our  governments  are  doing 
for  knowledge,  for  that  science  which  enables  us 
to  navigate  the  seas,  discover  the  riches  of  mines, 
increase  wealth  and  civilization  by  culture  of  the 
soil  and  rearing  of  animals.  The  agricultural 
experiment  stations  alone  add  to  the  national 
wealth  billions  of  dollars  beyond  their  moderate 
cost.  (9)  Inventions  are  fostered  by  the  national 
patent  office  which  secures  the  inventor  his  rights 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government  281 

and  encourages  new  experiments  by  its  method 
of  rewards.  (10)  The  most  important  work  of 
governments  is  that  of  education.  No  nation  has 
yet  avoided  the  disgrace  and  danger  of  support- 
ing an  ignorant  and  degenerating  class  if  it  left 
education  to  private  enterprise.  There  are  always 
many  who  are  too  poor  to  send  their  children  to 
school,  and  many  too  lazy  or  stupid  or  cruel.  An 
ignorant  class  is  a  national  peril,  a  menace  to 
health,  wealth,  and  morals.  Where  all  citizens 
have  the  franchise  our  very  government  itself  is 
threatened  by  the  presence  of  a  horde  of  stupid 
voters  who  cannot  understand  the  effect  of  their 
use  of  suffrage.  Further  than  this  every  child 
has  a  right  to  education,  and  only  through  public 
schools  can  these  rights  be  secured  to  all.  There 
never  was  nor  can  be  universal  education  which 
is  not  compulsory  education. 

The  illustrations  just  given  might  be  greatly 
extended  in  all  directions.  Indeed  as  society 
grows  in  numbers  and  civilization  it  is  inevitable 
that  the  government  shall  have  more  duties, 
simply  because  in  no  other  way  can  the  people  get 
things  done  which  they  believe  it  is  their  duty  and 
interest  to  have  done. 

An  honest  judge,  in  charging  a  jury,  thus 
urged  the  supreme  value  of  the  government  to  all 
citizens : 


282  Social  Duties 

Do  you  know  there  is  no  other  friend  you  have  that 
is  as  good  a  friend  to  you  as  the  law?  It  made  pro- 
vision for  you  before  you  were  born;  it  enables  you  to 
wear  that  coat  which  you  have  on  your  back,  the  shoes 
on  your  feet,  or  someone  stronger  would  take  them  away 
from  you. 

It  is  a  guard  over  your  house.  It  protects  you  from 
burglars;  it  stands  guard  over  your  property,  your  repu- 
tation, your  life;  and  if  you  are  sick  and  friendless  it 
will  take  care  of  you  in  the  hospital ;  if  you  are  dying 
it  will  protect  your  body.  No  labor  union  has  ever  been 
the  friend  to  you  that  the  law  has  been.  You  ought  to 
have  respect  for  the  law  above  any  other  institution. 

III.       HOW  ARE  GOVERNMENTS  SUPPORTED? 

Sources  of  revenue. — The  government  cannot 
render  all  these  services  without  means,  that  is, 
money  and  services.  The  chief  means  of  support 
come  from  taxes  upon  the  property,  industry,  and 
incomes  of  citizens.  It  is  true  that  where  a  city, 
for  example,  carries  on  an  enterprise  like  gas- 
making,  water  supply,  street  transportation,  it 
may  support  these  works  from  the  income  of  the 
business.  It  is  a  grave  question  of  our  times 
whether  and  how  far  this  kind  of  business  is  wise. 
At  present  we  pass  over  this  factor,  (i)  The 
principal  sources  of  income  for  the  support  of 
the  federal  government  are  the  internal  revenue 
from  liquor  and  tobacco  taxes,  taxes  on  imported 
goods    (tariffs),  stamp  duties,  and,  in  times  of 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government  283 

special  need,  income  taxes.  (2)  The  state  and 
local  governments  are  supported  by  direct  taxes 
levied  on  real  estate  and  on  all  kinds  of  personal 
property,  and  fees  for  services  of  public  officers, 
licenses,  and  others.  Further  details  for  each 
state  must  be  studied  in  the  local  laws,  as  v^ell  as 
in  books  to  be  cited.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  all 
citizens  to  support  their  government,  and  thus  pay 
for  the  good  that  is  done  and  received,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  ability  to  pay,  is  theoretically  admitted 
by  all  except  an  immoral  or  an  eccentric  minority. 
This  is  one  of  the  conclusions  about  social  duty 
which  the  moral  sense  of  this  nation  will  not  per- 
mit to  be  set  at  defiance.  But  there  are  grave 
wrongs  which  tend  to  corrupt  morality  and  call 
for  earnest  co-operation. 

IV.       ETHICAL     PROBLEMS     OF     ASSESSMENT     AND 

TAXATION.      WHAT  IS  RIGHT  TO  REQUIRE 

AND  DO  ? 

I.  Problems  of  national  support. — The  actual 
support  of  our  federal  government  comes  largely 
from  taxes  on  imported  goods,  on  alcholic  liquor, 
and  on  tobacco.  What  is  the  duty  of  upright 
citizens  in  this  matter,  so  far  as  they  have  influ- 
ence? A  few  questions  will  show  that  only  pro- 
longed and  careful  study  will  justify  any  man 
in  exerting  his  political  power  actively  on  such 


284  Social  Duties 

subjects.  What  is  the  effect  of  a  tariff  imposed 
on  goods  brought  from  Europe,  as  books,  cloth- 
ing, furs,  machinery,  wines,  furniture,  pictures, 
glass  ware,  and  other  articles?  Does  this  tax 
make  our  people  pay  higher  prices  for  the  goods 
they  consume  ?  Does  the  higher  price  benefit  few 
or  many?  Are  manufactures  improved  and 
enlarged  by  this  policy  ?  Is  the  collection  of  this 
tax  at  ports  fair  and  honest?  What  are  the 
wrong  acts  provoked  by  the  modes  of  collection  ? 
How  do  travelers  and  merchants  seek  to  evade  the 
import  tax  and  what  immoral  acts  arise  from 
attempts  to  cheat  the  government?  What  is  the 
duty  of  importers  if  they  think  the  law  itself  is 
wrong  and  unjust?  In  voting  for  members  of 
Congress  and  for  the  President,  what  responsi- 
bility has  the  citizen  in  reference  to  the  methods 
of  national  revenues?  What  should  one  do  who 
thinks  it  morally  evil  for  the  government  to  seek 
support  from  the  profits  on  intoxicants  and  to- 
bacco? The  student  should  try  to  learn  all  the 
consequences  of  this  system  in  every  direction 
and  on  all  classes  of  the  community.  This  is 
not  an  easy  task,  yet  many  speak  with  dogmatic 
confidence  on  such  themes  without  giving  them 
prolonged  study,  merely  showing  the  opinions  of 
party  leaders.  If  some  thousand  of  young  men 
were  reading  the  best  books  on  the  subject  and 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government  285 

discussing  their  contents,  the  leaders  of  the  nation 
would  be  more  carefully  and  wisely  chosen. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

Books  on  taxation. 

W.  M.  Daniels,  Elements  of  Public  Finance. 
R.  T.  Ely,  Taxation  in  American  States  and  Cities. 
T.  G.  Shearman,  Taxation  of  Personal  Property. 
C.  H.  Adams,  The  Science  of  Finance. 
E.  R.  A.  Seligman,  Essays  in  Taxation. 
C.  E.  Merriam,  Report  on  the  Municipal  Revenues  of 
Chicago,  1906. 

C.  C.  Plehn,  Introduction  to  Public  Finance. 

D.  A.  Wells,  Theory  and  Practice  of  Taxation. 
National   Tax   Association,   State  and  Local   Taxation, 

1908. 

2.  Problems  of  support  of  state  and  local  gov- 
ernments.— (a)  The  present  methods.  While 
there  are  many  variations  in  different  states,  the 
essential  elements  in  general  are  these:  assessors 
are  appointed  according  to  state  law  to  make 
lists  of  the  amounts  and  values  of  all  kinds  of 
property  of  all  citizens,  and  a  rate  of  taxation  is 
fixed  according  to  which  each  owner  of  property 
is  required  to  pay  each  year  about  one  cent  (more 
or  less)  for  every  dollar  assessed,  no  matter  what 
kind  of  property  it  may  be.  When  this  money 
is  collected  in  the  public  treasury  it  is  divided 
among  the  various  public  governments  as  re- 
quired by  law.     If  all  the  property  were  listed 


286  Social  Duties 

at  its  true  value,  then  all  would  contribute  to  the 
support  of  government  according  to  their  ability, 
or  practically  so,  and  this  would  be  nearly  fair. 
If  the  property  of  a  citizen  is  a  farm  or  houses 
or  other  visible  things  the  assessors  can  see  it 
for  themselves  and  judge  its  value.  If  they  are 
intelligent  and  honest  this  kind  of  tax  will  be 
collected  justly.  But  in  recent  years  very  much 
wealth  has  been  created  which  is  not  easily  found, 
such  as  that  represented  by  bonds,  mortgages, 
stocks,  and  franchises. 

b)  Evils  in  this  system.  Members  of  the 
class,  by  talking  with  assessors  and  business  men, 
as  bankers,  may  find  more  evils  than  can  be  dis- 
cussed briefly  here.  They  will  learn,  among  other 
things,  that  there  is  a  direct  temptation  for  tax- 
payers to  hide  stocks,  bonds,  notes,  and  other 
securities  in  vaults,  and,  where  an  oath  is  required 
to  confirm  their  statements,  to  perjure  themselves 
by  reporting  values  much  less  than  they  actually 
own.  In  most  towns  and  even  in  the  country  a 
majority  of  persons  report  to  the  assessors  much 
less  than  the  true  amounts.  But  there  are  some 
who  will  not  lie  about  this  matter,  and  they  tell 
the  assessor  all  that  they  own,  even  when  he  could 
not  otherwise  find  out.  These  more  honest  per- 
sons must  therefore  pay  more,  often  many  times 
more  taxes  than  rich  but  unscrupulous  neighbors 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government  287 

who  are  willing  to  lie  in  order  to  save  money. 
The  estates  of  widows  and  orphans  are  often 
placed  in  the  control  of  courts  where  all  the 
property  is  recorded  in  public  books  and  cannot 
escape  assessment.  Thus  the  tendency  of  our 
system  is  to  reward  the  cheat  and  liar  and  compel 
the  honest  and  the  widows  and  orphans  to  bear 
too  heavy  a  share  of  the  cost  of  government.  All 
the  great  authorities  on  finance  condemn  this 
method  which  is  common  in  all  parts  of  our 
country.  Thus  Professor  Seligman,  one  of  the 
highest  authorities,  says  of  this  kind  of  tax : 

Practically,  the  general  property  tax,  as  actually  ad- 
ministered, is  beyond  all  doubt  one  of  the  worst  taxes 
known  in  the  civilized  world.  Because  of  its  attempt 
to  tax  intangible  as  well  as  tangible  things,  it  sins  against 
the  cardinal  rules  of  uniformity,  of  equality  and  univer- 
sality of  taxation.  It  puts  a  premium  on  dishonesty  and 
debauches  the  public  conscience ;  it  reduces  deception  to 
a  system,  and  makes  a  science  of  knavery;  it  presses 
hardest  on  those  least  able  to  pay;  it  imposes  double 
taxation  on  one  man  and  grants  entire  immunity  to  the 
next.  In  short,  the  general  property  tax  is  so  flagrantly 
inequitable,  that  its  retention  can  be  explained  only 
through  ignorance  or  inertia.  It  is  the  cause  of  such 
crying  injustice  that  its  alteration  or  its  abolition  must 
become  the  battle  cry  of  every  statesman  and  reformer.* 

How  much  of  this  inertia  and  ignorance  is  due 
to  the  neglect  of  the  churches  and  adult  Bible 

'^  E.  R.  A.  Seligman,  Essays  in  Taxation,  2d  ed.,  p    61. 


288  Social  Duties 

classes?  How  many  of  the  moral  teachers  of  the 
nation  have  even  studied  this  gigantic  wrong? 
How  guilty  are  the  theological  seminaries?  How 
many  will  still  claim  that  it  is  not  a  proper  subject 
for  Sunday  study  ?  "Evil  is  wrought  by  want  of 
thought  as  well  as  want  of  heart." 

c)  Have  the  authorities  who  condemn  the 
present  system  any  better  method  to  substitute 
for  it?  From  the  purely  financial  standpoint  the 
modes  of  raising  revenues  for  the  federal  govern- 
ment are  generally  satisfactory.  It  is  thought 
that  the  incomes  for  the  state  should  be  separated 
from  those  of  the  cities,  counties,  and  towns ; 
that  the  state  should  derive  its  revenues  chiefly 
from  corporation  and  inheritance  taxes;  that  local 
revenues  should  come  from  real  estate  and  from 
other  elements  of  wealth ;  that  a  carefully  devised 
method  might  properly  reach  notes  secured  by 
mortgage  without  taxing  the  same  wealth  twice; 
and  that  other  revenues  might  be  taken  from  the 
visible  resources  of  persons  with  income  as  indi- 
cated by  their  expenditures  for  consumption  and 
enjoyment,  such  as  residences,  vehicles,  etc.  The 
tax  on  inherited  wealth  is  collected  at  the  moment 
when  the  heirs  receive  in  large  bulk  property  for 
which  they  have  not  labored.  The  tendency  in 
our  country  is  to  extend  the  use  of  the  inheritance 
tax  as  a  source  of  revenue  for  the  state.    Society 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government  289 

tolerates,  and  at  great  sacrifice  protects  great 
fortunes  of  individuals,  partly  on  the  ground  that 
those  who  are  most  competent  to  manage  capital 
are  the  most  productive  agents  of  control.  But 
this  reason  does  not  hold  good  in  case  of  heirs; 
for  children  do  not  always  inherit  ability  and 
energy,  and  often  become  indolent  from  absence 
of  motive  to  work,  and  persons  in  the  second 
generation  of  wealth  are  far  removed  from  sym- 
pathy with  those  who  by  their  toil  make  capital 
reproductive.  Hence  the  income  tax  and  the  in- 
heritance tax  have  come  to  be  demanded  as  means 
of  returning  to  general  social  possession  a  large 
part  of  the  accumulations  of  men  of  vast  industry, 
thrift,  initiative,  and  power  of  organization  and 
direction.  The  sifting  process  of  each  generation 
comes  by  redistribution  of  estates. 

V.       SUPPORT   OF  GOVERNMENT   BY  PERSONAL 
SERVICE 

The  citizen  in  a  nation  with  universal  suffrage 
and  free  speech  owes  many  duties  to  government 
which  are  not  included  in  payment  of  taxes.  One 
of  these  duties  is  to  know,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
nature,  functions,  history,  and  needs  of  the  politi- 
cal institutions  which  our  forefathers  improved 
and  intrusted  to  the  present  generation. 

On  important  matters  which  are  proposed  for 


2go  Social  Duties 

legislation  each  voter  is  under  obligation  to  seek 
the  best  possible  information  and  to  assist  by- 
voice  and  vote  those  policies  which  seem  to  him 
to  promise  the  highest  results  to  the  material  and 
moral  interests  of  the  entire  people.  There  are 
enough  men  who  will  secretly  and  often  cor- 
ruptly try  to  secure  legislation  that  will  enrich 
a  few  at  the  expense  of  many ;  but  under  our  laws 
each  citizen  is  rightfully  bound  to  study  and  pro- 
mote laws  which  will  benefit  all.  Some  of  these 
policies  are  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  series. 

In  the  choice  of  representatives  in  city  councils, 
state  legislatures,  and  Congress  those  men  should 
be  nominated  in  all  parties  who  have  proved  that 
they  are  intelligent,  educated,  and  honest,  and 
who  will  give  their  best  study  to  the  questions  on 
which  they  are  called  to  frame  and  enact  laws. 
For  judges  should  be  chosen  lawyers  known  to  be 
upright,  just,  clean  in  life,  and  learned  in  law. 
For  administrators  of  law,  as  governors,  members 
of  state  boards  of  health  and  charity,  mayors, 
trustees  of  towns,  all  citizens  should  insist  upon 
one  single  principle — that  of  fitness  by  nature, 
character,  and  special  training.  In  positions  which 
require  knowledge  of  medicine,  only  competent 
medical  experts  should  be  favored  for  election 
or  appointment;  for  administrators  of  schools, 
only  educated  and  experienced  teachers ;  for  legal 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government  291 

direction,  only  trained  lawyers;  for  policemen, 
only  those  who  have  proved  physical  and  mental 
fitness,  and  who  merit  advance  by  fidelity  to  duty; 
and  thus  throughout.  That  a  man  has  been  loyal 
to  his  party  or  has  helped  an  incompetent  man  to 
be  elected  congressman  or  mayor,  or  has  delivered 
the  vote  of  clients  of  a  saloon,  or  has  done  any 
sort  of  partisan  political  work,  ought  not  to  be 
once  considered.  Every  administrative  office 
ought  to  be  open  to  all  competent  citizens  with- 
out regard  to  party,  on  proof  of  fitness,  and  then 
the  officers  should  be  promoted  in  the  line  of  their 
skill  after  faithful  labor  for  the  community  as 
a  whole.  This  is  the  merit  system  as  contrasted 
with  the  spoils  system ;  the  first  being  based  on  the 
welfare  of  the  community,  the  other  on  selfish, 
private,  or  party  interests;  the  first  is  moral,  the 
second  is  distinctly  immoral. 

Military  service,  that  is  the  offer  of  life  itself 
to  defend  the  unity,  integrity,  safety,  and  honor 
of  the  nation,  is  the  sacrifice  which  may  be  law- 
fully and  rightly  required  of  every  strong  man. 
Membership  in  the  militia  is  training  for  such 
service.  The  grounds  and  reasons  for  these  de- 
mands should  be  discussed  in  Christian  circles. 
It  is  tragic  when  the  nation  or  state  requires  its 
citizens  to  fight  for  an  unjust  cause,  when  patriot- 
ism is  made  to  conflict  with  the  sense  of  justice 
and  humanity. 


2g2  Social  Duties 

Many  kinds  of  civil  service  are  rendered  with- 
out pay  or  with  only  small  reward :  as  the  service 
on  juries  in  courts  of  justice,  committees  and 
councils  of  cities,  school  boards,  boards  of  state 
institutions  of  charity.  In  all  countries  much  of 
the  best  work  is  done  for  commonwealth  and 
nation  without  money;  the  reward  being  enjoyed 
in  a  good  conscience,  a  sense  of  usefulness,  and 
the  esteem  of  the  public. 

VI.       DUTIES    OF    THE    LEGAL    PROFESSION    IN 

RELATION  TO  GOVERNMENT  AND  TO 

THE  COMMUNITY 

The  members  of  a  particular  profession  are 
more  familiar  with  the  conditions,  opportunities, 
temptations,  and  duties  of  that  profession  than 
are  others;  and  it  is  their  duty  to  maintain  its 
standards.  This  obligation  is  clearly  recognized 
and  ably  stated  by  a  committee  of  the  American 
Bar  Association,  in  a  recent  report  recommending 
the  adoption  of  a  code  of  ethics  to  govern  the 
professional  conduct  of  its  members.  At  the  1905 
meeting  of  the  American  Bar  Association,  the 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee  presented  a 
resolution,  which  was  adopted  unanimously,  pro- 
viding for  a  special  committee  to  report  upon  the 
advisability  and  practicability  of  the  adoption  of 
a  code  of  professional  ethics  by  the  association. 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government         293 

At  the  1906  meeting  the  committee  reported  fa- 
vorably upon  both  points,  and  at  the  1907  meeting 
the  association  directed  the  committee  to  prepare 
a  draft  for  the  proposed  canons  of  professional 
ethics,  requesting  suggestions  and  criticisms  of 
all  members  of  the  American  bar.  In  its  report 
the  committee  says : 

The  foundation  of  the  draft  for  canons  of  ethics  is 
the  code  adopted  by  the  Alabama  State  Bar  Association 
in  1887.  This  draft  represents  our  best  present  judg- 
ment after  a  most  careful  consideration  of  the  subject. 

In  America,  where  justice  reigns  only  by  and  through 
the  people  under  forms  of  law,  it  is  essential  that  the 
system  for  establishing  and  dispensing  justice  not  only 
be  developed  to  a  high  point  of  practical  efficiency,  but 
so  maintained  that  there  shall  be  absolute  confidence  on 
the  part  of  the  public  in  the  fairness,  the  integrity,  and 
the  impartiality  of  its  administration ;  otherwise  there  can 
be  no  permanence  to  our  republican  institutions. 

Our  profession  is  necessarily  the  keystone  in  the  arch 
of  republican  government,  and  the  future  of  the  republic, 
to  a  great  extent,  depends  on  our  maintenance  of  the 
shrine  of  justice  pure  and  unsullied.  It  cannot  be  main- 
tained unless  the  conduct  and  the  motives  of  the  mem- 
bero  of  our  profession,  who  are  the  high  priests  of  justice, 
are  what  they  ought  to  be. 

No  code  or  set  of  rules  can  be  framed  which  will  par- 
ticularize all  the  duties  of  the  lawyer  in  the  varying 
phases  of  litigation  or  in  all  the  relations  of  professional 
life.  The  following  canons  of  ethics  are  adopted  by  the 
American   Bar   Association   as   a   general   guide,   yet   the 


2g4  Social  Duties 

enumeration  of  particular  duties  should  not  be  con- 
strued as  a  denial  of  the  existence  of  others  equally  im- 
perative, though  not  specifically  mentioned. 

The  canons  deal  with  many  problems  confront- 
ing the  lawyer  in  his  professional  conduct. 
Among  the  most  important  recommendations  are 
the  following: 

Defending  one  whom  advocate  believes  to  be  guilty. 
— A  lawyer  may  undertake  with  propriety  the  defense  of 
a  person  accused  of  a  crime,  although  he  knows  or  be- 
lieves him  guilty,  and  having  undertaken  it  he  is  bound 
by  all  fair  and  honorable  means  to  present  such  defenses 
as  the  law  of  the  land  permits,  to  the  end  that  no  per- 
son may  be  deprived  of  life  or  liberty  but  by  due  pro- 
cess of  law. 

How  far  a  lawyer  may  go  in  supporting  a  client's 
cause. — Nothing  operates  more  certainly  to  create  or  to 
foster  popular  prejudice  against  lawyers  as  a  class  and 
to  deprive  the  profession  of  that  full  measure  of  public 
esteem  and  confidence  which  belongs  to  the  proper  dis- 
charge of  its  duties  than  does  the  false  claim  often  set 
up  by  the  unscrupulous  in  defense  of  questionable  trans- 
actions, that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  lawyer  to  do  whatever 
may  enable  him  to  succeed  in  winning  his  client's  cause. 

A  lawyer  owes  entire  devotion  to  the  interest  of  his 
client,  warm  zeal  in  the  maintenance  and  defense  of  his 
cause,  and  the  exertion  of  the  utmost  skill  and  ability, 
to  the  end  that  nothing  may  be  taken  or  withheld  from 
him,  save  by  the  rules  of  law,  legally  applied.  Never- 
theless, it  is  steadfastly  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
great  trust  is  to  be  performed  within  and  not  without  the 
bounds  of  the  law.     The  office  of  attorney  does  not  per- 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government  295 

mit,  much  less  does  it  demand  for  any  client,  violation 
of  law,  or  any  manner  of  fraud  or  chicanery.  No  lawyer 
is  justified  in  substituting  another's  conscience  for  his 
own.  A  lawyer  should  not  do  for  a  client  what  his  sense 
of  honor  would  forbid  him  to  do  for  himself. 

Treatment  of  witnesses  and  litigants. — A  lawyer  should 
always  treat  adverse  witnesses  and  suitors  with  fairness 
and  due  consideration,  and  he  should  never  minister  to 
the  malevolence  or  prejudices  of  a  client  in  the  trial  or 
conduct  of  a  cause.  The  client  cannot  be  made  the 
keeper  of  the  lawyer's  conscience  in  professional  matters. 
He  cannot  demand  as  of  right  that  his  counsel  shall 
abuse  the  opposite  party  or  indulge  in  oflfensivc  person- 
alities. Improper  speech  is  not  excusable  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  what  the  client  would  say  if  speaking  in  his 
own  behalf. 

Advertising,  direct  or  indirect. — The  most  worthy  and 
effective  advertisement  possible,  even  for  a  young  lawyer, 
and  especially  with  his  brother  lawyers,  is  the  establish- 
ment of  a  well-merited  reputation  for  professional 
capacity  and  fidelity  to  trust.  This  cannot  be  forced,  but 
must  be  the  outcome  of  character  and  conduct.  The 
publication  or  circulation  of  ordinary  sized  business 
cards,  being  a  matter  of  personal  taste  or  local  custom, 
and  sometimes  of  convenience,  is  not  per  se  improper. 
But  solicitation  of  business  by  circulars  or  advertise- 
ments or  by  personal  communications  or  interviews,  not 
warranted  by  personal  relations,  is  unprofessional. 

Stirring  up  litigation,  directly  or  through  agents. — It 
is  unprofessional  for  a  lawyer  to  volunteer  advice  to 
bring  a  lawsuit,  except  in  rare  cases,  where  ties  of  blood 
relationship  or  trust  make  it  his  duty  to  do  so.  Not  only 
is  stirring  up  strife  and  litigation  unprofessional,  but  it 


296  Social  Duties 

is  disreputable  in  morals,  contrary  to  public  policy,  and 
indictable  at  common  law.  No  one  should  be  permitted 
to  remain  in  the  profession  who  hunts  up  defects  in 
titles  or  other  causes  of  action  and  informs  thereof  in 
order  to  be  employed  to  bring  suit,  or  who  breeds  liti- 
gation by  seeking  out  those  with  claims  for  personal 
injuries  or  those  having  any  other  grounds  of  action, 
in  order  to  secure  them  as  clients,  or  who  employs  agents 
or  runners  for  like  purposes,  or  who  pays  or  rewards, 
directly  or  indirectly,  tho^je  who  bring  or  influence  the 
bringing  of  such  cases  to  his  office,  or  who  remunerates 
policemen,  court  or  prison  officials,  physicians,  hospital 
attaches,  or  others  who  may  succeed,  under  the  guise  of 
giving  disinterested  friendly  advice,  in  influencing  the 
criminal,  the  sick,  and  the  injured,  the  ignorant,  or  others, 
to  seek  his  professional  services. 

Responsibility  for  litigation. — No  lawyer  is  obliged  to 
act,  either  as  adviser  or  advocate,  for  any  person  who 
may  wish  to  become  his  client.  He  has  the  right  to 
refuse  retainers.  Every  lawyer  must  decide  what  busi- 
ness he  will  accept  as  counselor,  what  causes  he  will 
bring  into  court  for  plaintiffs,  what  cases  he  will  contest 
in  court  for  defendants.  The  responsibility  for  advising 
questionable  transactions,  for  bringing  questionable  suits, 
for  urging  questionable  defenses,  is  the  lawyer's  responsi- 
bility. He  cannot  escape  it  by  urging  as  an  excuse  that 
he  is  only  following  his  client's  instructions. 

The  laivye/s  duty  in  its  last  analysis. — No  client,  cor- 
porate or  individual,  however  powerful,  nor  any  cause, 
civil  or  political,  however  important,  is  entitled  to  receive, 
nor  should  any  lawyer  render,  any  service  or  advice 
involving  disloyalty  to  the  law  whose  ministers  we  are, 
or  disrespect  of  the  judicial  office,  which  we  are  bound 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government  297 

to  uphold,  or  corruption  of  any  person  or  persons  exer- 
cising a  public  office  or  private  trust  or  deception  or  be- 
trayal of  the  public.  When  rendering  any  such  improper 
service  or  advice,  the  lawyer  lays  aside  his  robe  of  office, 
and  in  his  own  person  invites  and  merits  stern  and  just 
condemnation.  Correspondingly,  he  advances  the  honor 
of  his  profession  and  the  best  interests  of  his  client  when 
he  renders  service  or  gives  advice  tending  to  impress 
upon  the  client  and  his  undertaking  exact  compliance 
with  the  strictest  principles  of  moral  law.  He  must  also 
observe  and  advise  his  client  to  observe  the  statute  law, 
though  until  a  statute  law  shall  have  been  construed  and 
interpreted  by  competent  adjudication,  he  is  free  and  is 
entitled  to  advise  as  to  its  validity  and  as  to  what  he 
conscientiously  believes  to  be  its  just  meaning  and  extent. 
But,  above  all,  a  lawyer  will  find  his  highest  honor  in  a 
deserved  reputation  for  fidelity  to  private  trust  and  to 
public  duty,  as  an  honest  man  and  as  a  patriotic  and  loyal 
citizen. 

Finishing  its  report,  the  committee  commends 
for  adoption  the  following  oath  of  admission  to 
the  bar  as  containing  clearly  the  general  principles 
which  should  ever  control  the  lawyer  in  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  : 

I  do  solemnly  swear: 

I  will  support  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  and 
the  state  of  . 

I  will  maintain  the  respect  due  to  courts  of  justice  and 
judicial  officers. 

I  will  counsel  and  maintain  only  such  actions,  pro- 
ceedings, and  defenses  as  appear  to  me  legally  debatable 


298  Social  Duties 

and  just,  except  the  defense  of  a  person  charged  with  a 
public  offense. 

I  will  employ  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  causes 
confided  in  me  such  means  only  as  are  consistent  with 
truth  and  honor,  and  will  never  seek  to  mislead  the 
judge  or  jury  by  any  artifice  or  false  statement  of  fact 
or  law. 

I  will  maintain  the  confidence  and  preserve  inviolate 
the  secrets  of  my  client,  and  will  accept  no  compensation 
in  connection  with  his  business  except  from  him  or  with 
his  knowledge  and  approval. 

I  will  abstain  from  all  offensive  personality,  and  ad- 
vance no  fact  prejudicial  to  the  honor  or  reputation  of  a 
party  or  witness,  unless  required  by  the  justice  of  the 
cause  with  which  I  am  charged. 

I  will  never  reject,  from  any  consideration  personal  to 
myself,  the  cause  of  the  defenseless  or  oppressed,  nor 
delay  any  man's  cause  for  lucre  or  malice.  So  help  me 
God. 

TOPICS  FOR  STUDY  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  The  class  may  properly  take  up  the  Constitution  of 
the  Union  and  the  constitutions  of  one  or  more  of  the 
several  states.  These  contain  definitions  of  the  chief 
branches  of  government,  the  powers  and  duties  of  officers, 
the  rights  of  citizens,  and  express  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  law. 

2.  Members  of  the  class  may  find  out  and  report  what 
is  done  by  the  officers  of  their  township,  school  district, 
city,  county,  state,  for  poor  relief,  for  constructing  and 
maintaining  roads,  bridges,  parks,  and  for  other  pur- 
poses not  here  mentioned.  Interviews  with  policemen, 
justices  of  the  peace,  township  trustees,   school   superin- 


Duties  in  Relation  to  Government  29^ 

tendents  or  inspectors,  councilmen,  jailers,  superintend- 
ents of  poorhouses,  and  others,  may  reveal  to  the  class 
the  aims,  difficulties,  usefulness,  temptations,  and  defects 
of  public  administration.  Officers  are  made  more  earnest 
and  faithful  if  they  are  made  aware  that  their  work  is 
inspected ;  that  if  they  are  negligent  they  may  be  rebuked 
and  if  they  are  faithful  and  efficient  they  will  be  praised 
and  rewarded. ' 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

P.  S.  Reinsch,  Colonial  Government,  and  World  Politics. 

Alexander  Johnston,  History   of  American  Politics. 

Jesse  Macy,  Political  Parties  in  the   United  States. 

J.  A.  Woodburn,  American  Politics. 

Charles  Nordhoff,  Politics  for  Young  Americans. 

F.  J.  Goodnow,  Politics  and  Administration. 

John  Fiske,  Civil  Government  in  the  United  States. 

A.  B.  Hart,  Actual  Government  as  Applied  under 
American  Conditions. 

A.  W.  Dunn,  Community  and  Citizen. 

Albert  Shaw,  Political  Problems  of  American  Develop- 
ment. 

"The  American  State  Series,"  8  vols.,  The  Century  Co. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

SOCIAL    DUTIES    IN    INTERNATIONAL 
RELATIONS^ 

At  first  thought  the  ordinary  modest  Christian 
in  humble  private  station,  remote  from  the  diplo- 
matic circles  of  Washington,  is  inclined  to  imag- 
ine that  affairs  of  international  magnitude  do  not 
concern  him,  that  they  belong  to  the  secrets  of 
state,  that  his  ignorance  and  lack  of  political  in- 
fluence excuse  him  from  responsibility  in  such 
high  and  complicated  matters.  But  morality  has 
no  national  boundaries,  and  the  claims  of  neigh- 
borliness  are  valid  between  kings  and  republics. 
The  rulers  of  men  are  servants  of  God  and  history 
shows  that  they  are  better  men  and  governors  if 
watched  by  an  intelligent  people  who  love  right- 
eousness and  hate  iniquity.  President  Nicholas 
Murray  Butler  has  well  said  : 

One  of  the  chief  problems  of  our  time  is  to  bring  the 
nations'  minds  and  the  nations'  consciences  to  bear  on  the 
moral  problems  involved  in  international  relations.  This 
is  a  step  in  the  moral  education  of  the  world.* 

And  at  the  same  meeting  Rear-Admiral  C.  F. 
Goodrich  stated  an  important  truth : 

^  Biblical  passages  which  may  well  be  read  at  the  beginning 
of  this  study  are:  Matt.  28:18,  19;  Ps.  ^2. 

^Proceedings  of  Thirteenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Lake 
Mohonk  Conference  on  International  Arbitration,  1907. 

300 


International  Relations  301 

When  the  people  want  peace,  they  will  have  peace; 
when  they  want  war,  they  will  have  war,  and  they  are 
likely  to  want  that  of  which  most  is  sung  and  written 
and  spoken.  The  more  we  talk  about  peace,  the  less  our 
chance  of  war You  must  labor  with  these  gentle- 
men of  the  press,  that  they  use  their  mighty  powers 
toward  allaying  race  hatred  and  toward  sweetening  and 
brightening  international  relations,  that  they  report  the 
graces  and  virtues  of  men  of  alien  blood  and  speech,  not 
their  supposed  defects  of  character,  and  so  shall  they 
bring  all  nations  of  earth  together  in  that  perfect  under- 
standing and  sympathy  in  which  war  can  have  no  place. 

There  is  not  a  person  of  intelligence  so  obscure 
in  the  republic  that  he  can  escape  responsibility. 
Women  may  not  vote  but  they  have  not  lost  the 
faculty  of  speech,  and  they  have  much  to  say 
about  admitting  or  excluding  newspapers  of  the 
"yellow"  sort  which  go  screeching  rumors  of 
war  and  plots  to  kill  through  streets  and  homes. 
The  tone  of  conversation  at  the  fireside  in  rela- 
tion to  foreigners  helps  to  shape  the  phrases  of 
congressmen  on  the  floor  of  the  House  at  Wash- 
ington; for  men  ambitious  of  place  are  quick  to 
imitate  the  accents  of  the  "dear  people"  in  the 
rural  districts.  Many  a  time  in  the  past  a  small 
clique  of  merchants,  eager  to  sell  goods  to  sav- 
ages or  furnish  munitions  of  war,  and  cabals  of 
capital,  have  involved  a  nation  in  bloodshed  and 
debt  before  the  people  knew  why  they  were  sud- 


302  Social  Duties 

denly  plunged  into  the  awful  maelstrom  of  con- 
flicting forces. 

As  in  previous  parts  of  this  study  we  now 
attempt  to  bring  before  us  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant facts  of  international  relations  that  we 
may  see  the  grounds  for  popular  interest  in  these 
large  duties  and  for  the  formation  of  public  senti- 
ment based  on  principles  of  reason  and  justice. 

I.       INTERESTS  AND  ACTIVITIES  BETWEEN  PEOPLES 
IN   TIMES   OF   PEACEFUL   INTERCOURSE 

I.  Commerce. — Men  trade  with  each  other  for 
mutual  advantage,  and  each  man  offers  the  com- 
modities or  services  of  his  trade  or  profession  in 
return  for  other  kinds  of  goods  and  services. 
The  farmer  produces  grain,  fruits,  and  meat  for 
a  market  and  exchanges  them  for  the  goods  of  the 
merchant,  the  services  of  the  dentist,  the  song 
of  the  musician,  and  all  parties  to  the  exchange 
are  benefited  by  the  dealings.  So  one  nation 
living  in  a  warm  climate  can  produce  bananas, 
oranges,  rice,  cotton,  and  hard,  fine  wood,  which 
it  is  eager  to  exchange  for  steel  implements,  cot- 
ton and  woolen  cloth,  kitchen  utensils,  and 
watches  made  by  a  people  dwelling  under  colder 
skies  having  advantage  in  peculiar  forms  of  skill. 
America  has  food  supplies  more  than  can  be  here 
consumed,   while   Germany,    France,   Italy   have 


International  Relations  303 

fine  wares  which  we  cannot  yet  make  so  well  or 
so  cheaply ;  and  those  lands  have  collections  of  art 
in  galleries  and  museums  which  we  are  glad  to 
pay  to  enjoy. 

Commerce,  however,  is  often  competitive,  as 
where  Germany,  France,  England,  and  the  United 
States  all  desire  to  sell  goods  in  China  or  Africa. 
Competition  gives  rise  to  conflict  of  interests,  and 
these  require  settlement  by  treaties,  agreements, 
adjustments.  "Tariff  wars"  are  carried  on  in 
times  of  peace,  a  form  of  retaliation  to  secure  a 
basis  for  better  bargains  under  new  treaties.  Just 
as  there  is  a  conflict  of  interests  between  laborers 
seeking  the  same  chance  to  work  for  wages,  be- 
tween merchants  soliciting  the  patronage  of  the 
village  or  town,  between  employer  and  employee 
in  dividing  the  product  of  their  united  efforts,  so 
there  is  conflict  among  competitors  of  different 
races  and  lands ;  and  those  conflicts  sometimes  are 
carried  in  both  instances  even  to  bloodshed. 

2.  International  migration  gives  rise  to  serious 
problems  of  duty. — Our  citizens  desire  to  travel 
securely  in  foreign  lands  for  trade  or  pleasure 
or  health  or  learning.  During  many  years  this 
country  had  vast  areas  of  unoccupied  lands  which 
produced  nothing  because  there  were  not  enough 
people  to  till  the  fields  and  work  the  mines  and 
sail  the  lakes.     Our  ancestors  came  across  the 


304  Social  Duties 

ocean  to  improve  their  condition;  and  we  are  all 
foreigners  except  the  Indians,  and  the  red  men 
are  not  "Indians."  For  a  long  time  our  nation 
felt  sure  that  we  had  "space  about  the  hearth  for 
all  mankind."  But  space  does  not  increase  and 
the  people  of  old  countries  swarm  in  limited  terri- 
tory; the  farm  which  supported  a  family  will  not 
support  five  families  and  the  children  must  emi- 
grate or  starve.  Persecution  in  Russia  makes 
thousands  of  Jews  homeless  and  they  seek  a  hos- 
pitable and  tolerant  shore.  Ancient  cities  weary 
of  bearing  with  criminals  and  of  supporting 
paupers  and  defectives  sought  to  relieve  their 
troubles  by  shipping  these  undesirable  persons  to 
America.  Are  we  bound  to  receive  all  that  come 
or  are  sent  to  us?  Even  if  there  were  room  and 
soil  to  till,  we  have  come  to  believe  that  national 
duty  would  lead  to  some  measure  of  restriction 
of  immigration.  Most  intelligent  citizens  who 
have  considered  the  matter  seem  to  reach  the 
conclusion  that  we  cannot  maintain  our  type  of 
life  and  the  vigor  and  health  of  our  stock  if  we 
adulterate  blood  with  that  of  degenerates  im- 
ported from  the  prisons  and  asylums  of  Europe. 
We  believe  that  our  best  service  to  mankind  can- 
not be  rendered  if  we  suffer  our  working  people 
to  be  dragged  down  to  the  level  of  the  half- 
starved  laborers  of  other  countries  and  especially 


International  Relations  305 

if  we  admit  debased  and  diseased  men  and  women. 
Further,  we  think  that  if  we  permit  other  coun- 
tries to  ship  the  results  of  their  social  neglect, 
excessive  taxation  for  war  and  courts,  low  wages, 
imperfect  care  of  the  poor,  and  free  multiplica- 
tion of  the  sickly,  those  nations  will  not  correct 
such  evils  at  home.  So  long  as  England  could 
transport  her  criminals  she  postponed  the  im- 
provement of  her  prisons,  popular  education,  and 
agencies  of  saving  children  and  youth  from  vice 
and  ruin.  When  her  failures  were  sent  back  she 
sought  to  dry  up  the  evil  at  its  spring. 

3.  There  are  the  facts  of  interchange  of  ideas, 
inventions,  publications,  spiritual  commerce  of 
various  kinds,  which  give  rise  to  treaties  and 
agreements.  Of  recent  years  the  rights  of  invent- 
ors and  discoverers  have  been  more  clearly  recog- 
nized than  formerly,  and  thus  we  have  come  to 
admit  that  a  man  who  has  introduced  a  new  idea 
or  written  a  valuable  work,  or  invented  a  useful 
machine  or  composed  a  piece  of  music,  should  be 
protected  in  his  property  for  a  term  of  years  even 
if  he  belongs  to  another  nation.  Perhaps  this 
recognition  arises  partly  from  the  desire  to  stimu- 
late invention  by  rewarding  it,  and  partly  from 
the  knowledge  that  if  we  do  not  protect  the  in- 
ventors of  other  nations  they  will  not  protect 
ours.     At  any  rate  we  have  in  these  relations  a 


3o6  Social  Duties 

field    of    international    morality    which    requires 
study. 

The  class  at  this  point  should  endeavor  to  collect  and 
discuss  other  facts  relating  to  the  intercourse  between 
peoples  in  time  of  peace,  and  try  to  discern  what  duties 
they  involve. 

II.   INTERESTS  OF  PEOPLES  IN  TIMES  OF  WAR 

Unfortunately  modern  peoples  have  not  yet 
become  civilized  enough  to  cease  considering  the 
possibilities  and  relations  of  war. 

I.  Occasions  of  zvar — that  is  of  attempts  at 
coercion  by  armed  force.  It  is  almost  universally 
admitted  that  a  man  has  a  right  to  defend  his  own 
life,  his  family,  and  his  property  against  assail- 
ants. Perhaps  we  should  except  those  who  believe 
in  the  duty  of  non-resistance;  but  there  are  cir- 
cumstances under  which  even  a  good  Quaker 
would  not  feel  qualms  of  conscience  after  taking 
the  life  of  a  miscreant,  and  where  he  would  feel 
himself  a  cowardly  poltroon  if  he  stood  by  and 
permitted  deeds  which  he  might  by  force  prevent. 
And  so  there  seem  to  be  times  when  a  people  must 
either  lie  down  and  permit  a  king  to  step  upon 
its  neck,  invade  its  territory,  and  rob  its  wealth, 
or  must  arm  for  battle.  If  a  foreign  navy  or 
army  should  attempt  to  burn  our  cities  and  levy 
tribute  upon  us,  few  men  would  hesitate  to  join 
the  army  or  navy. 


International  Relations  307 

Invasion  of  foreign  territory  has  for  its  object, 
conquest  of  territory,  opening  of  markets  for 
goods,  revenge  for  injuries  or  insults,  or  "glory" 
which  we  find  it  hard  to  define.  Most  of  our 
citizens  have  come  to  see  that,  while  we  have  no 
right  to  conquer  weaker  peoples  for  gain  or  to 
exploit  them  by  taxation  when  subdued,  the 
civilized  nations  have  a  right  to  keep  up  a  strong 
police  to  repress  piracy,  brigandage,  and  the  mur- 
der of  travelers  and  merchants  in  countries  with- 
out orderly  government.  It  is  true  this  position 
is  denied  by  a  limited  number  of  citizens;  but 
the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish  war  showed  that  our 
people  could  not  endure  the  story  of  outrage  in 
a  near  country  where  we  had  power  to  interfere. 

It  seems  inevitable  that  commerce  and  the  ideas 
of  civilized  nations  must  reach  every  part  of  the 
globe,  and,  incidental  to  the  process,  the  use  of 
protective  police,  where  local  government  does  not 
exist  or  is  inefficient,  must  be  occasionally  invoked. 
It  is  at  this  point  that  every  American  citizen  of 
intelligence  feels  himself  under  moral  obligations 
to  form  some  opinion  and  assume  some  attitude 
in  relation  to  the  problems  connected  with  our 
dealings  with  the  peoples  of  the  Philippine 
Islands,  Hawaii,  Guam,  Cuba,  and  Porto  Rico. 
Appeals  are  frequently  made  to  us  to  protest 
against  the  abuses  of  government  in  Africa  by 


3o8  Social  Duties 

the  Belgians,  the  British,  and  the  Germans;  and 
not  infrequently  voices  are  heard  condemning 
the  methods  of  British  government  in  India. 
This  means  that  there  are  other  ways  of  affecting 
the  actions  of  great  powers  than  by  direct  inter- 
ference of  a  government  with  threat  of  war. 

The  class  may  well  discuss  the  right  and  wrong  and 
the  various  arguments  heard  on  the  subject  of  "im- 
perialism," "expansion,"  "colonies." 

2.  What  zvar  means. — Painters,  statisticians, 
and  apostles  of  peace  have  vied  with  each  other 
in  the  attempt  to  make  men  realize  what  war 
means.  The  artist  depicts  upon  canvas  the 
mangled  bodies,  the  looks  of  horror,  fear,  hate, 
agony,  despair.  Poets  and  orators  set  forth  in 
language  which  burns  into  the  imagination  the 
miseries  of  the  soldier,  the  sorrows  of  widows 
and  fatherless  children,  the  waste  of  harvest 
fields,  the  burning  of  homes  and  temples,  the 
passions  of  vengeance,  the  feuds  which  remain 
like  smoldering  embers  for  generations  after  war 
has  ceased.  Economists  tell  the  cost  of  war  in 
money,  in  cessation  of  useful  production,  in 
diversion  of  capital  and  labor  to  the  manufacture 
of  means  of  destruction;  they  have  shown  how 
peaceful  measures  of  progress,  as  workingmen's 
insurance  and  old-age  pensions  are  delayed  be- 
cause of  national  expenditures  upon  war. 


International  Relations  309 

3,  Can  war  he  diminished? — Moral  obligations 
are  affected  by  the  possibility  of  finding  means  of 
remedy.  Even  now  forces  are  at  work  among  the 
peoples  of  the  earth  to  diminish  the  frequency  of 
war. 

a)  Workingmen  the  world  over  are  organiz- 
ing a  sentiment  adverse  to  war.  They  are  awake 
to  the  fact  that  little  cliques  of  merchants,  desir- 
ing to  extend  profitable  trade,  rings  of  courtiers 
and  ambitious  kings,  and  officers  of  army  and 
navy  eager  for  promotion,  may  plunge  a  nation 
into  scenes  of  bloodshed  and  make  the  wage 
earners  carry  the  cost  and  become  "food  for  gun- 
powder" to  gratify  avarice  or  vanity.  They  are 
aware  that  "glory"  is  often  a  mere  cloak  for 
base  passions  of  men  in  high  place  and  that  a 
pretense  of  honor  may  easily  hide  most  dishonor- 
able deeds.  Hence  trade  unions  and  socialists  in 
Europe  and  America  are  massing  their  forces  to 
prevent  conflicts  of  nations.  They  declare  that 
at  least  workingmen  are  brothers  the  world  over, 
and  their  interests  are  hostile  to  bloody  methods 
of  settling  disputes. 

h)  The  influence  of  commerce  is,  perhaps,  gen- 
erally in  favor  of  peace  between  nations;  but 
sometimes  merchants  of  an  adventurous  and  un- 
scrupulous type,  wishing  to  control  a  traffic  with 
partially  civilized  tribes,   are  known  to  involve 


3IO  Social  Duties 

their  agents  in  trouble  with  such  tribes  and  then 
call  on  the  home  go\'ernment  for  help  or  even 
revenge  and  conquest.  There  can  hardly  be  a 
doubt  that  commerce  in  the  widest  view  of  it  tends 
to  call  for  peaceful  relations. 

c)  Christianity,  when  its  meaning  is  apprecia- 
ted and  its  spirit  felt  is  a  force  working  for 
truth,  righteousness,  fair  dealing,  conciliation, 
reason  and  peace. 

III.       INTERNATIONAL  LAW 

International  law,  in  a  strict  sense,  is  that  body 
of  rules  by  which  the  civilized  nations  of  modern 
times  have  actually  agreed  to  regulate  their  deal- 
ings with  each  other  in  peace  and  in  war.  This 
body  of  rules  is  not  identical  with  absolute  justice; 
it  does  not  always  tend  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
mankind,  and  still  contains  traces  of  the  assertion 
of  the  right  of  the  stronger  to  rule  the  weaker 
without  security  for  the  latter ;  and  perhaps  some 
of  the  rules  look  more  to  the  advantage  of  those 
already  in  possession  of  power  than  to  any  sort 
of  justice.  It  is  simply  a  set  of  precepts  generally 
accepted  by  advanced  peoples  for  settling  debated 
questions  between  them  or  any  of  their  citizens. 

International  law  tends  on  the  whole  toward 
justice,  because  agreements  which  are  reached 
by  comparison  of  views  by  the  capable  representa- 


International  Relations  311 

tives  of  many  nations  are  more  apt  to  exclude 
selfish  considerations  than  rules  made  arbitrarily 
by  a  single  dominant  government.  No  body  of 
law  of  any  kind  is  entirely  just,  for  imperfect 
humanity  will  show  its  defects  of  knowledge, 
wisdom  and  character  in  all  its  institutions;  but 
always  the  spirit  of  reason  and  humanity  moves 
in  the  actual  codes  and  modifies  them  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  common  welfare,  that  is  toward  right- 
eousness. 

All  human  institutions  are  growing,  never  en- 
tirely finished,  since  they  must  be  molded  to  the 
changing  needs  of  new  situations;  and  all  laws 
and  customs  are  improved  by  a  constant  process 
of  trial  and  criticism.  Criticism  is  the  process  by 
which  higher  and  broader  considerations  of  well- 
being  are  brought  to  bear  on  the  actual  rule  at  a 
given  time,  so  as  to  show  that  it  somehow  falls 
short  of  the  demands  of  welfare  and  that  a  better 
rule  can  be  framed.  This  criticism  is  carried  on 
in  controversies,  trials,  discussions  by  teachers 
of  the  science,  textbooks,  journals  of  experts, 
popular  discussions,  until  it  leads  to  a  restatement 
of  a  rule  in  treaties  and  other  international  agree- 
ments. Christianity  has  had  a  profound  influence 
on  international  law. 

Christianity  wrought,  with  its  other  changes,  a  great 
change   in   public  law.     The   spirit   of   Christian   brother- 


312  Social  Duties 

hood  found  its  way  into  cabinets  and  camps.  The  citi- 
zen of  another  state  or  the  subject  of  another  king  was 
yet  a  brother  in  Christ  and  the  barriers  which  separated 
nations  were,  in  part  at  least,  thrown  down.  The  influ- 
ence of  the  Christian  church  upon  the  public  law  of  the 
world  cannot  be  overestimated.  As  soon  as  the  brother- 
hood of  man  came  to  be  accepted  as  a  religious  tenet,  it 
was  inevitable  that  the  old  doctrine  of  the  natural  antipa- 
thy of  nations  should,  sooner  or  later,  disappear.  In  the 
earliest  ages  the  stranger  had  been  accounted  an  enemy, 
and  even  the  victim  of  shipwreck  might  lawfully  have 
been  plundered.     Such  barbarities  fell  before  the  gospel.' 

International  law  differs  materially  from  other 
laws.  Thus  the  laws  of  a  nation  or  of  a  common- 
wealth are  framed  by  legislators  chosen  by  the 
methods  customary  in  that  nation  or  common- 
wealth ;  while  the  rules  of  international  law  are 
merely  agreements  made  between  nations,  since 
there  is  no  legislature  representing  various 
nations  and  having  authority  to  make  laws  gov- 
erning their  action.  Again,  each  nation  or  com- 
monwealth has  a  supreme  court  which  defines, 
interprets,  and  applies  the  laws  to  particular 
questions  as  they  arise;  but  there  is  no  supreme 
court  to  interpret  the  rules  of  public  law  whose 
decisions  are  binding  on  all  parties  concerned. 
In  the  case  of  ordinary  federal  or  state  laws 
there  is  some  executive  person  or  authority  to 
see  that  the  laws  are  made  effective;  but  there 

*T.  S.  Woolsey,  in  Universal  Encyclopedia. 


International  Relations  313 

is  no  executive  sitting  over  the  nations  and  com- 
pelling their  observance  of  the  rules  of  inter- 
national law.  The  rules  of  public  law  arise  out 
of  disputes  between  nations;  they  are  defined  in 
treaties  and  interpreted  by  diplomacy  or  com- 
missions as  occasions  arise;  they  are  enforced 
only  by  the  sense  of  honor,  justice,  and  loyalty 
to  veracity  and  good  faith,  although  they  may  in 
the  last  resort  be  enforced  by  war.  But  war  is 
simply  a  trial  of  force,  not  of  reason. 

What  is  the  relation  of  international  law  to 
social  duties?  International  law  is  in  its  essence 
an  effort  to  define  the  conduct  most  conducive 
to  common  welfare  in  the  relations  of  peoples  in 
peace  and  war;  it  is  one  chapter  in  the  system  of 
thought  about  social  duties.  International  law 
seeks  to  protect  the  integrity  of  nations,  the  right 
of  each  nation  to  its  own  government  and  to  its 
own  way  of  managing  its  affairs,  so  long  as  it 
does  not  trespass  on  others.  It  seeks  to  protect 
the  peaceful  control  of  its  property  and  territory 
by  each  state.  It  defines  the  rights  and  duties  of 
foreigners  while  they  are  residing  or  traveling 
among  foreign  peoples.  It  provides  for  diplo- 
matic correspondence  by  means  of  ministers,  am- 
bassadors, consuls,  as  agents  of  states.  It  pro- 
vides for  contracts  and  agreements  in  the  form  of 
treaties. 


314  Social  Duties 

Even  when  war  has  been  declared  and  the 
dreadful  appeal  to  force  has  been  sounded  abroad, 
still  international  law  intervenes  and  seeks  to 
mitigate  and  minimize  the  horrors  which  it  can- 
not altogether  prevent.  Under  its  beneficent  rules 
prisoners  taken  in  battle  must  be  humanely  treated 
in  relation  to  food,  lodging,  and  medical  care. 

Non-combatants,  as  women,  children,  the  aged, 
and  all  persons  pursuing  their  peaceful  callings 
without  taking  up  arms,  are  to  be  respected  by  the 
soldiery  in  person  and  property.  If  private  prop- 
erty is  taken  or  destroyed,  through  military  neces- 
sity, a  receipt  is  given  the  owner  and  he  is 
afterward  reimbursed  for  his  losses.  In  former 
ages  of  barbarism  women  were  ravished,  children 
were  enslaved,  property  was  the  spoil  of  the 
conquerers,  and  the  fury  of  passion  was  let  loose 
on  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  invaded  territory. 
The  tendency  of  international  law  has  been  to 
confine  the  carnage  of  battle  to  persons  and 
places  actually  employed  in  hostile  acts. 

On  the  field  of  battle  the  surgeons  and  nurses, 
and  the  tents  where  the  flag  of  the  Red  Cross 
waves,  are  held  sacred ;  hospitals  are  sanctuaries, 
even  in  the  heat  of  conflict.  Public  buildings  and 
works  of  art  are  not  wantonly  to  be  destroyed. 
Some  restraint,  though  not  much,  is  placed  upon 
pillage  and  destruction  in  the  storming  of  fortified 


International  Relations  315 

places;  there  the  ferocity  and  brutaHty  of  war 
still  reveal  their  true  nature  in  excess  of  horrors. 
Heralds  from  an  opposing  army  and  bearing  a 
flag  of  truce,  if  received,  are  to  be  treated  with 
respect  and  their  lives  are  safe. 

In  the  case  of  war  with  savages  who  do  not 
recognize  international  law.  Dr.  Woolsey  says : 
"The  simple  rule  of  humanity  is  all  that  can  be 
required  of  the  civilized  combatant.  The  parties 
being  unequal,  and  one  of  them  ignorant,  dis- 
trustful, and  perfidious,  there  can  be  no  law  of 
nations  to  govern  their  intercourse."  This  means 
that  such  wars  should  not  be  forced  upon  an 
inferior  people  without  the  strongest  proof  of 
necessity. 

International  law  seeks  to  regulate  the  treat- 
ment of  neutral  nations  in  time  of  war.  "A 
neutral  is  a  state  which  is  a  friend  to  both  the 
belligerents  and  takes  no  part  in  the  war"  (Wool- 
sey). With  the  immense  growth  of  commerce 
in  modern  times  it  has  become  vastly  important 
that  innocent  parties  should  not  be  ruined  by  the 
conflict  of  warring  nations.  A  principle  now 
generally  admitted  is  that  neutral  nations  should 
treat  both  fighters  impartially  and  not  be  injured 
in  trade  by  acts  of  hostility. 

It  sounds  almost  like  mockery  to  speak  of  rules 
for  war,  that  is  rules  for  murder  and  slaughter, 


3i6  Social  Duties 

and  yet  even  a  moderation  of  carnage  is  a  gain, 
perhaps  a  movement  toward  the  aboHtion  of  such 
bloodshed.    Woolsey  tells  us  that — 

the  principles  of  a  humane  and  yet  eflficient  war-code  are 
especially  these:  that  war  is  a  way  of  obtaining  justice 
when  other  means  have  failed ;  that  it  is  waged  between 
governments ;  that  quiet  inhabitants  of  a  country  are  to 
be  treated  with  humanity  and  with  as  little  severity  as 
will  allow  of  the  effective  prosecution  of  the  conflict ; 
that  as  soon  as  justice  can  be  secured,  armed  contest 
ought  to  cease ;  and  that  retaliation,  if  necessary  on 
account  of  the  inhuman  or  deceitful  conduct  of  the  adver- 
sary, cannot  go  to  the  extreme  of  justifying  that  which 
is  morally  wrong. 

For  example,  weapons,  and  missiles  which  in- 
flict agony  withput  corresponding  efficiency  are 
condemned.  Troops  employed  in  war  must  be 
such  only  as  can  be  kept  under  military  discipline. 
Perfidy  and  solicitations  to  commit  crime  are  not 
allowable.  Military  necessity  admits  of  such  de- 
ception as  does  not  involve  the  breaking  of  good 
faith.  Men  who  take  up  arms  against  one  an- 
other in  public  war  do  not  cease  on  this  account 
to  be  moral  beings,  responsible  to  one  another 
and  to  God.  Military  necessity  does  not  admit 
of  cruelty — that  is,  tlie  infliction  of  suffering  for 
the  sake  of  suffering  or  for  revenge — nor  of 
maiming  or  wounding  except  in  fight,  nor  of  tor- 
ture to  extort  confessions.     It  does  not  admit  of 


International  Relations  317 

the  use  of  poisons  in  any  way,  nor  of  the  wanton 
devastation  of  a  district.  It  admits  of  deception, 
but  disdains  acts  of  perfidy. 

It  has  more  than  once  been  sneeringly  declared 
by  cynical  enemies  of  the  nobler  way  that  the 
whole  movement  to  secure  judicial  settlement  of 
disputes  is  a  sign  of  weak  sentimentalism,  cow- 
ardice, and  folly ;  that  the  great  nations  will  never 
cease  to  fight  when  they  think  they  have  the 
advantage;  that  the  Hague  Conference,  represent- 
ing the  various  governments  in  consideration  of 
methods  of  reducing  liability  to  war,  ended  with 
hypocritical  talk.  But  there  are  those  well  en- 
titled to  respect  who  take  a  quite  different  view 
of  this  recent  development  of  rational  and  judicial 
agencies  for  avoiding  appeal  to  brute  force. 

Under  the  leadership  of  members  of  the  Society 
of  Friends  the  Lake  Mohonk  Conference  has  for 
several  years  met  and  labored  over  a  programme 
of  progressive  action,  and  this  was  its  platform 
at  the  thirteenth  annual  conference  on  interna- 
tional arbitration,  1907: 

We  urge  as  the  most  immediate  and  important  action 
to  be  taken  by  this  second  Hague  Conference  the  fol- 
lowing measures:  (i)  a  provision  for  stated  meetings 
of  the  Hague  Conference ;  (2)  such  changes  in  the 
Hague  Court  as  may  be  necessary  to  establish  a  definite 
judicial  tribunal  always  open  for  the  adjudication  of 
international  questions;    (3)    a  general  arbitration   treaty 


3i8  Social  Duties 

for  the  settlement  of  international  disputes;  (4)  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  principle  of  the  inviolability  of  inno- 
cent private  property  at  sea  in  time  of  war;  (5)  a 
declaration  to  the  effect  that  there  should  be  no  armed 
intervention  for  the  collection  of  private  claims  when  the 
debtor  nation  is  willing  to  submit  such  claims  to  arbitra- 
tion. We  commend,  in  accordance  with  our  resolution  of 
last  year,  the  consideration  by  the  Hague  Conference  of 
a  plan   for  the  neutralization  of  ocean  trade   routes. 

The  Hague  Conference  of  1907  was  not  wholly- 
fruitless,  although  the  advance  made  was  not  so 
great  as  many  of  us  might  wish. 

Even  in  regard  to  a  purely  international  court  supple- 
menting the  present  diplomatic  body,  while  the  details 
are  not  settled,  the  foundation  of  such  a  court  is  now 
definitely  laid  through  the  adoption  by  the  Conference  of 
the  underlying  principle  of  permanent,  paid  judges,  who 
shall  not  be  allowed  to  occupy  any  other  position,  as  is 
permitted  to  the  present  judges  on  the  Hague  list  of  the 

court   erected    in    1899 As   distinguished    from   the 

present  Hague  Tribunal,  it  will  be  called  the  Hague 
Court  of  Arbitral  Justice.  The  first  court  will  exist  for 
adjustment  of  political  disputes;  the  second  for  those  of 
a  more  judicial  nature.* 

The  conference  of  1907  adopted  the  principle 
of  prohibiting  the  use  of  force  for  collection  of 
debts  until  after  the  justice  and  amount  of  the 
debt,  its  time  and  manner  of  payment,  and  the 
security  to  be  given  shall  be  fixed  by  arbitration, 
if  demanded  by  the  debtor. 

*  Outlook,  November  9,  1907,  p.  509. 


International  Relations  319 

It  is  always  the  way  of  the  cynic  to  behttle  any 
argument  which  does  not  make  direct  appeal  to 
force;  and  he  asks  with  bitter  contempt,  What 
is  the  sanction  of  such  a  court?  The  sanction  of 
the  decisions  of  an  international  court  is  public 
opinion.  Professor  J.  B.  Moore,  a  high  authority 
on  international  law,  said: 

What  sanction  would  there  be  for  the  enforcement  ot 
arbitral  decisions?  We  answer,  the  most  efficient  of  all 
sanctions,  public  opinion.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  sup- 
pose that  the  peace  and  good  order  of  society  are  pre- 
served by  the  penalties  prescribed  in  the  criminal  codes. 
And  so  far  as  such  penalties  exert  an  influence,  it  is  by 
the  disgrace  attending  their  imposition,  rather  than  by 
the  physical  inconvenience  that  attends  their  infliction. 
Let  him  who  is  doubtful  as  to  the  execution  of  the  judg- 
ments of  international  arbitration,  reflect  upon  the  fact 
that  in  most  cases  such  judgments  have  been  scrupulously 
observed,  and  that  in  no  case  have  nations,  after  having 
agreed  to  arbitrate  a  dispute,  gone  to  war  about  it  Arbi- 
tration has  brought  peace,  and  "peace  with  honor." 

He  cites  the  advantages  of  a  permanent  court 
of  international  arbitration :  it  would  ( i )  avoid 
disputes;  (2)  prevent  popular  excitements;  (3) 
afford  opportunity  for  deliberation;  (4)  be  the 
means  of  developing  international  law  by  estab- 
lishing a  consistent  system  of  principles  and 
precedents. 

International  opinion  is  the  consensus  of  individual 
opinion   in  the   nations.     The   most   certain   way  to   pro- 


320  Social  Duties 

mote  obedience  to  the  law  of  nations  and  to  substitute  the 
power  of  opinion  for  the  power  of  armies  and  navies  is, 
on  the  one  hand,  to  foster  that  "decent  respect  to  the 
opinions  of  mankind"  which  found  place  in  the  great 
Declaration  of  1776,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  spread 
among  the  people  of  every  country  a  just  appreciation  of 
international  rights  and  duties,  and  a  knowledge  of  the 
principles  and  rules  of  international  law  to  which  national 
conduct  ought  to  confirm;  so  that  the  general  opinion, 
whose  approval  or  condemnation  supplies  the  sanction  for 
the  law,  may  be  sound  and  just  and  worthy  of  respect. 

There  is  no  civilized  country  now  which  is  not  sensi- 
tive to  this  general  opinion,  none  that  is  willing  to  sub- 
ject itself  to  the  discredit  of  standing  brutally  on  its 
power  to  deny  to  other  countries  the  benefit  of  recognized 
rules  of  right  conduct.  The  deference  shown  to  this 
international  public  opinion  is  in  due  proportion  to  a 
nation's  greatness  and  advance  in  civilization.  The  near- 
est approach  to  defiances  will  be  found  among  the  most 
isolated  and  least  civilized  of  countries,  whose  ignorance 
of  the  world  prevents  the  effect  of  the  world's  opinion; 
and  in  every  such  country  internal  disorder,  oppression, 
poverty,  and  indebtedness  mark  the  penalties  which  warn 
mankind  that  the  laws  established  by  civilization  for  the 
guidance  of  national  conduct  cannot  be  ignored  with 
impunity.' 

Our  honored  ambassador  at  the  court  of  Berlin, 
Dr.  David  Jayne  Hill,  has  also  said : 

It  has  demonstrated,  first  of  all,  not  only  that  a  uni- 
versal congress  of  this  character  is  possible,  but  that  cer- 
tain great  principles — or  postulates  of  constructive  action, 

•Elihu  Root. 


International  Relations  321 

as  we  may  call  them — are  now  beyond  dispute.  Among 
these  are  the  propositions  that  peace  is  the  normal  and 
war  the  abnormal  condition  of  civilized  nations ;  that  the 
relations  of  sovereign  states  are  properly  based  on  prin- 
ciples of  justice,  and  not  upon  force;  that  really  sovereign 
states  should  have  equal  right  before  the  bar  of  inter- 
national justice,  independently  of  their  size  or  military 
strength ;  that  disputes  between  governments  should  be 
settled,  as  far  as  possible,  by  judicial  methods,  and  not 
by  war;  and  that  war,  if  inevitable,  is  an  evil  whose 
disastrous  consequences — especially  as  regards  neutrals, 
non-combatants,  the  sick  and  the  wounded — should  by 
general  agreement  be  reduced  to  a  minimum.' 

IV.       A   WORLD-WIDE   POLICY   OF  DUTY   FOR  A 
CHRISTIAN  PEOPLE 

Deeper  than  all  law  is  national  character  of 
which  law  is  but  one  expression. 

I.  Our  best  protection  against  wrong  is  our 
own  righteousness,  fairness,  kindness  to  all  men 
in  all  relations.  The  most  powerful  means  of 
overcoming  evil  is  goodness.  To  conquer  the 
heart  of  a  man  or  a  nation  is  the  only  enduring 
conquest.  To  be  secure  in  universal  good-will 
is  the  most  impregnable  fortress.  Let  me  quote 
the  words  of  a  soldier  and  statesman,  Carl 
Schurz : 

The  old  Roman  poet  tells  us  that  it  is  sweet  and 
glorious  to  die  for  one's  country.  It  is  noble,  indeed. 
But,  to  die  on  the  battlefield  is  not  the  highest  achieve- 

*  Review  of  Reviews,  December,  1907,  p.  727. 


322  Social  Duties 

ment  of  heroism.  To  live  for  a  good  cause,  honestly, 
earnestly,  unselfishly,  laboriously,  is  at  least  as  noble  and 
heroic  as  to  die  for  it,  and  usually  far  more  difficult. 
I  am  confident  our  strongest,  most  effective,  most  trust- 
worthy, and  infinitely  the  cheapest  coast  defense  will 
consist  in  "Fort  Justice,"  "Fort  Good  Sense,"  "Fort 
Self-respect,"  "Fort  Goodwill,"  and  if  international  differ- 
ences really  do  arise,  "Fort  Arbitration." 

Why  should  not  the  class  review  the  cases  decided 
against  Canada  by  agreements  with  Great  Britain  and 
by  tribunals  of  arbitration,  and  open  them  up  again  for 
reconsideration?  With  honorable  men  a  debt  is  never 
outlawed,  and  a  legal  decision  which  was  unfair,  or 
which  justly  wounded  the  self-respect  of  a  helpless  per- 
son is  never  regarded  as  the  end  of  debate.  Why  should 
our  great  nation  insist  on  keeping  territory  which  belongs 
to  Canada  merely  because,  under  stress  of  danger,  per- 
haps, or  in  the  ignorance  of  her  diplomatists,  the  mother- 
country  gave  an  adverse  decision  against  one  of  her  de- 
pendencies? It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  Canadians  will 
ever  bring  up  these  settled  matters  again ;  but  they  can- 
not forget,  and  if  we  are  wrong  the  fact  that  we  are 
strong  is  only  a  reason  why  we  should  even  yield  a  point 
for  the  sake  of  convincing  our  noble  neighbors  that  we 
are  not  mean  and  unscrupulous.  (See  the  textbook.  The 
Story  of  the  Canadian  People,  by  David  M.  Duncan,  pp. 
395-404- ) 

2.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian  ministry  and 
of  the  church  everywhere  to  make  known  the 
history,  the  principles,  and  the  moral  foundation 
of  the  modern  method  of  decidiuG^  international 
differences  by  judicial  methods.     If  ever  it  were 


International  Relations  323 

proper  to  give  the  full  and  unquestioned  sanction 
of  religion  to  duty  it  is  here. 

Long  ago  a  Christian  jurist  spoke  the  word: 

Though  public  tribunals  do  not  proceed  from  nature, 
but  from  the  act  of  man,  yet  equity  and  natural  reason 
dictate  to  us  that  we  must  conform  to  so  laudable  an 
institution,  since  it  is  much  more  decent  and  more  con- 
ducive to  tranquillity  among  men,  that  a  matter  should  be 
decided  by  a  disinterested  judge,  than  that  men,  under  the 
influence  of  self-love,  should  right  themselves  according 
to  their  notions  of  right.'' 

And  in  recent  days  another  Christian  leader, 
diplomatist,  scholar,  and  university  president  has 
lent  the  authority  of  his  name  to  this  principle: 

Let  us  stand  before  the  world,  prepared  to  defend  our- 
selves, if  need  be,  with  our  good  right  arms,  as  becomes 
those  who  believe  that  there  are  calamities  more  dread- 
ful to  a  nation  than  war.  But  let  us  make  no  claim  on 
other  nations  which  are  not  just  claims.  Let  us  show 
our  confidence  in  the  justice  of  our  demands  by  our  will- 
ingness to  submit  to  a  properly  constituted  tribunal  all 
such  questions  as  we  and  they  agree  may  be  proper  for 
submission,  provided  that  in  no  case  shall  the  question 
involve  our  independence,  or  the  substantial  integrity  of 
our  country.* 

We  may  cite  the  words  of  another  great  uni- 

'  Grotius,  De  Jure  Belli  et  Pacts,  Lib.  I  c.  3.  i  (Vol.  I,  p. 
95). 

*  President  J.  B.  Angrll. 


324  Social  Duties 

versity  leader  of  thought,  President  C.  W.  Eliot, 
of  Harvard : 

Never  should  we  advocate  the  extension  of  our  insti- 
tutions by  force  of  arms,  either  on  sea  or  on  land. 
Never    should    we    attempt    to    force    another    nation    to 

adopt   arbitration   or  any  other  doctrine   of  peace 

Let  us  teach  the  children  what  is  the  rational,  sober- 
minded,  righteous  mode  of  settling  international  difficul- 
ties. Let  us  teach  them  that  what  is  reasonable  and 
righteous  between  man  and  man  should  be  made  reason- 
able and  righteous  between  nation  and  nation. 

General  U.  S.  Grant,  whose  courage  ancf  mili- 
tary genius  are  beyond  question,  said : 

Though  I  have  been  trained  a  soldier,  and  have  par- 
ticipated in  many  battles,  there  never  was  a  time  when, 
in  my  opinion,  some  way  could  not  have  been  found  of 
preventing  the  drawing  of  the  sword.  I  look  forward  to 
an  epoch  when  a  court,  recognized  by  all  nations,  will 
settle  international  differences,  instead  of  keeping  large 
standing  armies,  as  they  do  in  Europe. 

Let  the  church  teach  its  congregations  to  pray 
for  peace  and  righteousness  and  that  the  Father 
of  all  may  hasten  the  day  when 
All  men's  good  shall 
Be  each  man's  rule ;  and  universal  peace 
Lie  like  a  shaft  of  light  across  the  land, 
And  like  a  lane  of  beams  across  the  sea. 
Through  all  the  circle  of  the  golden  year. 

3.  Worldwide  missions. — It  is  not  enough  to 
remain  at  home  and  be  negatively,  passively  just; 


International  Relations  325 

we  are  debtors  to  all  men,  and  our  Lord  bids  us 
go  into  all  the  earth  and  proclaim  the  glad  tidings 
to  all  peoples,  peace  and  good-will  through  all 
lands  and  in  every  tongue. 

Let  a  certain  type  of  socialism  proclaim  the 
union  of  one  class,  inspired  by  "class  conscious- 
ness," among  all  men;  be  it  ours  to  take  up  the 
fragment  of  truth  which  they  assert  with  enthusi- 
asm and  proclaim  the  union  of  men,  not  merely 
the  union  of  wage-earners.  Only  when  men  of 
all  races  and  ranks  have  come  to  be  one  in  the 
kingdom  of  God  which  Jesus  proclaimed  shall 
we  have  the  final  and  enduring  pledge  of  peace  by 
righteousness. 

REFERENCES  TO  LITERATURE 

T.  J.  Lawrence,  The  Principles  of  International  Law. 

T.  D.  Woolsey,  Articles  on  "International  Law,"  in 
Universal  Cyclopedia. 

Charles  Sumner,  oration  on  "The  True  Grandeur  of 
Nations." 

Works  on  international  law  by  Wheaton,  Woolsey, 
Phillimore,  Manning,  Hallack,  Bluntschli,  Hall,  Dana,  etc. 

Proceedings  of  the  American  Conference  on  Interna- 
tional Arbitration. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abnormals,  200,  225 
Abnormal  Children,  80,  88,  225,  234 
Accidents,  100,  228 
Activity  necessary  to  youth,  2 
Administration  of  cilies,  160 
Adulteration,  food,  drink,  medicine   71 
Agriculture,  126  ff. 
Aims,  social,  7 
Alcohol,  70 

American  Health  League,  iS2>  158 
American  Bar  Association,  292 
Amusements,  186 
Angel-makers,  79 
Anti-social,  200,  224 
Art  education,  170,  174 
Assessments.     See  Taxation 
Attendance,  at  school,  177 
Baby-farms,  79 
Bacteria,  125 
Banquets,  71 
Bible,  inspires,  6 
Birth  of  children,  41 
Blind,  88 

Body  and  spirit,  65 
Business  class,  265,  270 
Calories,  69 

Capital,  concentration  of,  242 
Carnegie,  A.,  38,  157 
_  Chastity,  25 
Charitable  relief,  59;    of  church,    198 

ff.,  224,  231 
Charter,  of  city,  204 
Charity  Organization  Societies,  235 
Child  labor,  77  fi.,  106 
Children,    duty    of     parents,     43  ff.; 
neglected,    77,    86;     morally    aban- 
doned, 86 
Children,  dependent,  233 
"Christian  Science"  (so-called)  149 
Christianity,  in  international  law,  310, 

311 
Church,  rural,  134;   property  in  cities, 
156;  in  education,  176 


Church,  its  function,  x;   duties  in  city 

life,  189  ff.,  in  politics,  221 
City,  13;    structure  of,   140;    govern- 
ment, 209;  control,  213 
Citizens,  duties  of,  220 
Civil  marriages,  46 
Civil  service,  reform,  216,  291 
Clow,  Rev.  X 

Communication,  in  cities,  142 
Commerce,  302,  309 
Common  wealth,  in  cities,  154 
Commandments,  the  great,  xi 
Commonwealth,  14 
Commissions,  258 
Consumers,  influence,  243 
Conversation,  a  power,  301 
Co-operation,   teachers   with    parents, 

iSi 
Copyright,  305 
Corporations,  241 
Correction,  224 
Cost  of  living,  53 
Courtship,  22 
Country  life,  115 
Coulter,  Professor  J.  M.,  4 
Courts  of  law,  2S7 
Crime,  in  high  places,  243 
Criminals.     See  Delinquents,  200 
Criminals.     See  Anti-Social,  224;  rich, 

273 
Crippled  Children,  87 
Cruelty  to  Children,  80 
Culture,  113;  in  country,  131 
Death  from  accident,  102 
Deaf,  88 

Defective,  80,  86;   200;   226 
Demonstration  work,  agriculture,  130 
Depressed,  classified,  198 
Dependents  and  Delinquents,  15,  212, 

229 
Desertion  of  family,  S9 
Discussion,  mode  of  learning,  4 
Disease,  65,  100,  227 


329 


330 


Social  Duties 


Divorce,  34  ff.,  44,  47 

Drink,  6s 

Drummond,  Henry,  41 

Dwellings,  61 

EMnomic  interests;  in  citie?,  154 

Education,  in  cities,  168,  201;   by  the 

state,  281 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  28  (on  courtship) 
Efficiency,  in  education,  176 
Epileptics,  88 

Ethical  code,  of  lawyers,  293 
Evangelism,  as  social  service,  igo 
Extravagance,  27 
Factory  laws,  6 
Pacts,  how  to  find,  79 
Falling  in  love,  26 
Family,    10;      National    League    for 

Protection  of,   n;    22  ff.;     support 

of,  37;   in  country   131 
Farm  colonies,  234 
Farmers,  morals,  125;   institutes,  136 
Farm  life,  115  ff. 
Federation  of  moral  forces,  136 
Feeble-minded,  22s 
Fellowship,  170 
Finances,  of  cities,  212 
Flirting,  26 
Food,  65 

Fortunes,  great,  taxed,  38 
Fortunes,  large,  244 
Foster,  Professor  G.  B.,  6 
Foundlings,  79 
Government,  influence  on  character, 

218;  problems  of,  277 

Habitations.     See  Dwellings 
Hague  Peace  Conference,  317 
Harrison,  F.,  \i 

Health  in  home,  39;  in  country,  122; 
boards  of,  124,  127;  in  city,  138, 
144,  158;  in  schools,  177;  care  of 
state,  279.     See  Hygiene 

Higher  life,  113 
Hospitals,  in  country,  123 
Howard  Associations,  200 
Husband,  duties,  49 
Huxley,  T,  Ix 

Hygiene,  to  be  taught,  74,  145;  pub- 
lic, 122;   206 


Idiots,  88,  22s 

Idle  children,  90 

Immigrants,  and  the  church,  193,  304 

Impoverished,  226 

Individualism,  99,  139 

Industrial  efficiency,  96 

Industrial  groups,   16  (See  Working- 
men);  93;  education,  184 

Industrial  Insurance,  112,  152  (in  Ger- 
many) 

Industries,  organization,  241 

Inebriates,  235 

Infancy,  41,  79,  83 

Inheritance  tax,  157 

Insane,  88.  225 

Institutions,  9 

International  affairs,  15,  300;  law,  310 

Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  102 

Inventions,  165 

Inventions,  patents  on,  280 

Justice,  social,  245 

Juvenile  Court,  44 

Kern,  O.  J.,  134 

Knowledge,  diffusion  of,  168 

Labor  law.s,  103 

Labor  contracts,  104 

Lawyers,  duties,  292 

Legal  protection,  256 

Legal  rights,  in 

Leisure  class,  16,  265,  274 

Liberty,  7,  119,  279 

Libraries,  174 

Liverpool,  dwellings,  63 

Love  of  sexes,  25 

Machinery,  dangerous,  100,  246 

Marriage;    purpose,   27;    preparation 

for,  31;   defined,  35 
Mayors,  of  cities,  210 
Merit  System,  in  politics,  216 
Migration,  303 
Milk  supply,  84 
Minimum  wage  and  income  standard, 

S3 
Ministry  of  Political  Action,  222 
Missions,  in  cities,  194 
Missions,  324 
Modern  problems,  vii 


Index 


331 


Mohonk  Conference  317 

Monopolies,  166 

Morality,  defined,  17 

Mother?,  unmarried,  85 

Municipal  Research,  Bureau  of,  161, 

163;  accounts,  165,  214 
Municipal  actiwty,  162,  209;    govern- 
ment, 204 
Museums,  174 
Nation,  14 

National  Child  Labor  Committee,  11 
National  Children's  Home  Society,  12 
Night  work,  107 
Nurses,  visiting,  84;   rural,  124 
Observation  of  facts,  80 
Officials,  qualifications,  290 
Opportunity,  120 
Order,  7,  117,  206,  278 
Organizations,  9 
Packing  houses,  73 
Parents'  associations,  181 
Parties,  in  city  politics,  218 
Patent  medicines,  74 
Peace,  301 
Philanthropy  and  labor,  97;  of  church, 

196 
Physical  needs,  7 
Play,  educational,  90,  186 
Playgrounds,  90 
Police,  rural,  118;  city,  211 
Political  life,  202 

Postal  Department,  U.  S.,  165   280 
Poverty,  227 

Preparation  for  marriage,  31 
Principles  of  care  of  children,  83 
Prisoners,  200 

Property,  rights  and  duties,  vi 
Protection  of  workmen,  100;   in  cities, 

143 
Public  opinion,  255 
Public  ownership,  258 
Public  schools,  169 
Public  utilities,  161 
Publicity,  253 
Pure-food  laws,  73 
Registration  of  Marriages,  46 
Relief.     See  Charity 


Religion,  and  life,  6,  i8q 

Revenue,  282 

Rich  people,  attitude  of  church.  201 

Roosevelt,  T.,  loi 

Rural  community,  12,  iis 

Sage  Fund,  81 

Saloons,  105 

Sanitation,  159,  207 

Science,     economic     value    of,     128; 

aided  by  state,  280 
Schools.     See  Education,  172,  208,  211 
Schools,  rural,  132 
Schools,  parochial,  173 
Secret  marriages,  4s 
Security.     See  Order,  social 
Service,  of  the  state,  290 
Settlements,  182,  192 
Sexual  hygiene,  146 
Shaftesbury,  Earl,  108 
Shakespeare,  Tempest,  ProsPero,  29 
Sickness.     See  Disease 
Sociability,  39 
Socialism,  263 
Social  policy,  96 
Spiritual  needs,  7 
Spoils  system,  in  politics,  216 
Stables,  condition,  12s 
Standard  of  life,  54  ff. 
Standards  of  precision,  143 
State  government,    204;    supervision, 

236 
Street  trades,  107 
Sunday  Schools,  revolt  of  youth,  2 
Support  of  family,  58 
Swedenborg,  6 
Tariff,  283,  303 

Taxation,  155,  157,  183,  251,  283 
Temptations,  230;  of  children  of  rich, 

275 
Tennyson;  King  Arthur,  25 
Tests,  of  school  work,  177-79 
Theatres,  174 
Trades,  teaching,  185 
Transportation,  in  cities,  141,  279 
Trial  marriages,  31,  40 
Truck  payments,  los 
Truth,  new,  168 


332 


Social  Duties 


Tuberculosis,  125,  151,  228 
Unemployed,  229 
Vacation  schools,  185 
Vaccination,  125 
Values,  highest,  18 
Vicious,  229 

Voit,  standard  of  food,  6q 
Wages,  104 
Wage-earners,  60,  201 
Wants,  human,  7 
War  306 


Wealth,  social  control  of,  249 

Welfare,  conditions,  7 

Wilson,  Bishop,  6 

Women,   influence   of,   31;    working, 

107 
Workingmen,  93  ff.;    opposed  to  war, 

3ot).      See   Industrial   group      and 

Wage-earners 
World-wide  policy  for  Christians,  321 
Young  Men's   Christian  Association, 

I'll 
Youth,  its  problems,  1 


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